


The Arcobaleno and the Treasure's Hunt

by w_hope



Series: The Eight Minor Nuisances [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling - Setting, Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Absent Magic Rules, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Arcobaleno (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!) As Family, Attempt at Humor, Book/Movie 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Children!Arcobaleno, Crack Treated Seriously, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Don't copy to another site, Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Light Angst, Minor or Background Harry Potter Characters, No Arcobaleno Curse (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!), No Dying Will Flames, Nonbinary Mammon | Viper, Not Beta Read, POV Alternating, POV Multiple, Severus Snape Bashing, Some Plot, but i'm not gonna just pull out deus ex machina out of my ass lol, but the arcobaleno way, i just can't bother trying to be accurate guys, that's how they stumble on the plot lmao, we ARE gonna follow the hp plotlines btw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 36,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23328772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/w_hope/pseuds/w_hope
Summary: When they stumble upon a three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor which almost eats them whole, Skull immediately knows what’s up. A guarding dog, a forbidden third floor, teachers on the lookout and all that in a castle several centuries old—there’s a treasure to be found, and Skull doesn’t see why his friends and him can’t be the lucky hunters.
Relationships: Arcobaleno & Arcobaleno (Kateyou Hitman Reborn!)
Series: The Eight Minor Nuisances [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1765402
Comments: 49
Kudos: 89





	1. Platform 9 3/4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're running out of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- I have no idea how eleven years old are supposed to act, let alone speak, I'm sorry ksdflql.  
> \- The tense might be a bit confusing but I tried.  
> \- If you notice a decrease of quality starting from Fon's pov, it's my tiredness which seeped through my writing.
> 
> Warning : English isn't my first language.
> 
> Enjoy !

Lal's parents are the fucking worse but there is nothing new there. She knew they were serious when they told her she'd have to go to the train station the muggle way. Because they were too busy, had something more important to do, as if Lal still needed them to magically travel herself wherever she wanted to go.

Funny they found the time to accompany her in a muggle area so she could take a cab though.

Less funny that they didn't give her any muggle money to pay the driver.

"Miss, I really need you to pay me now," the man says again. He's bend sideways so he can look at her through the passenger window. "You said you had money with you."

Lal straightens up and draws her luggage closer to her. "I already gave you money."

"What, that ?" The galleon she gave him catches the light between his thumb and index finger, while two others lay forgotten on the passenger seat. She isn't sure she got the amount right because what the hell does she know about muggle currency, but she isn't willing to give him more. The man sighs, then gets all condescending with her like adults tend to be with children.

Except Lal is _eleven_ years old, she doesn't need anybody to be condescending with her. Her frustration goes up another notch.

"Look, they're really pretty… things, but I can't —"

Lal keeps her eyes on him but tuns him out. She has a hard time holding still, her foot tapping an impatient rhythm against the floor. Zamza snuggles against her where he is tightly wounded around her thigh, and she gives back the caress.

She's still late though. She needs to go _right now_ if she doesn't want to miss the train, and she isn't sure how easily she'll find the platform. She knows where it is, in theory, but the train station is big, and there's a lot of people, and she can't let the muggles see anything they shouldn't see —

" — you understand right ?" The man asks. "Now be a sweetheart and —"

A car speeds beside him, honking loudly, drawing his attention from her. Lal turns on her heels and _bolts_ toward the station's entrance. The man's screams in her back are the one good thing that happened to her since her morning started.

The station _is_ big, and there's a lot of people, and at any other time she would have taken the time to look around. To look at the high ceiling made of glass, the strange stairs which only go up or down, and maybe even learn about muggle money. As it is she's too focused on her mad dash and sneaking past the crowd all around her. The luggage she's rolling behind her has less chance not bumping into people, but she can't bring herself to care.

She has only one anyway and it's not too big. It could do much more harm if it felt as heavy as it should be, full as it truly is, but her parents bothered to take care of at least that for her. It is a rare instance of them being useful to her, and she isn't looking forward to hearing them brag about it all day long until their next feat.

Lal's heart leaps in her throat when she glances at a clock high up on a wall. She has just about ten minutes before her train leaves. She could not miss it — she _will not_ miss it. It's her first year at Hogwarts at long last, and by Merlin she will not let anything goes in her way.

She clutches harder at her luggage, speeds up, rounds a corner and there are the trains. Their sight help her swallows back her panic just a bit.

Then someone barrels into her from her right, and Lal, once more, has to face the trial of not murdering someone even if magic would assure she never gets caught.

* * *

So maybe continuously looking up to make sure he doesn't run past his platform while running at full speed wasn't the best of idea. And maybe he should have looked first that nobody was in the way before making a beeline towards the man in uniform for information.

Colonnello still thinks running into someone is just his morning giving him _yet_ another middle finger.

It's the day when he is finally going to set foot at Hogwarts and everything was supposed to go perfectly. His mother made sure of it, planned everything to a T. How everything went wrong just because he stumbled over his words when using the floo powder, he has yet to figure it out.

He should have waited for his parents to find him wherever he ended up to. It couldn't be that faraway from the correct street because Colonnello _knows_ how to use the floo powder. He used it plenty of time before after all.

But the bus was right there, and he had muggle money with him because his father is a paranoid, and he figured he could do it. He knows a thing or two about the muggle world too. He also figured the show of independence would reassure his parents that they aren't about to let their baby off into a cruel world — Colonnello is _every inch_ his eleven years, thank you very much.

Turns out he couldn't do it. If it wasn't for his mother and the extra hour in their schedule, he would have never made it in time, and he's barely in time at all as it is.

A pair of hands yanks him by his collar before he can fall, and Colonnello finds himself literally nose to nose with the girl he ran into.

"Can't you look where you are going ?"

The girl is pissed, her face all scrunched up in warning, that much is clear. The reddish hues in her brown eyes make them appear almost red altogether caught in the light as they are. She's pissed, but it can't be just because he ran into her _by accident_ , so Colonnello isn't about to just let her take her frustrations on him.

"Hi," he smiles at her, "how are you ?"

The girl narrows her eyes at him, shakes him once. His backpack bounces on his back, full of everything he'll need at school but so light still, and god magic is _so_ _cool_ , and he couldn't _wait_ to arrive at Hogwarts — oh _shit_ , he needs to catch the train before —

"Is that how you say sorry ?"

Falco peaks downwards to fly low above their heads and the girl gives it a quick glance. Colonnello takes the opportunity to glance down at her... centipede ? wrapped around her thigh. It can only make her a witch, right ?

"Listen —," he starts, his hands rising but he still has no idea where to put them. Colonnello was never afraid to get physical with anybody, especially not when the threat was real. But he was never in this position with a _girl_ before, and he's taller than her, and all around bigger, and it can't be very fair now, can it ?

The girl tilts her chin up, her dark hair falling backwards showing more of her face. She has a scar just beside her right eye, and he wonders if it affected her eyesight.

" — you're really pretty," he blurts out.

The girl blinks at him and he blinks back. Oh god, did he just —

She'd have kneed him in the stomach if he didn't block it. He bends down under her arm to free himself from her grip, catches her by the wrist intent on bending her arm in her back. The girl doesn't miss a beat though and spins around at the same time he moves, her fist flying towards his face. Colonnello catches it in his hand and doesn't let either of hers go.

"You know how to fight ?" She raises an eyebrow at him, like she wasn't about to beat him up just because he ran into her _by accident_. She didn't even fall. Colonnello likes her.

"My dad is an ex-soldier. Taught me a couple of things. You ?"

She shrugs. "I wanted to learn how to kick ass."

Colonnello's incredulous laughter quickly turns into a genuine one. The girl — her name, he needs to catch her name — takes advantage of that to free her hands but doesn't lash out further. She gives him a smirk and oh — she _is_ pretty.

The loudspeakers go over the next departures, reminding them of the time, and he's pretty sure he's sporting the same face of horror and panic as her.

Her new friend is running again, trailing her luggage behind her before he can fully process the situation, but he is quick to follow. Until someone catches him by his elbow and yanks him backwards.

* * *

  
  


He slept in. He _slept in_. On the day when his magical adventures are to begin of all the days in the world.

The wizard sent to accompany him to the magic train safely gives him a weird look when he finally shows up at their point of meeting. He looks even scarier like that, all tall and slim and bony, but Skull can't really blame him. He makes a note to himself to be in his best behavior —

— then forgets all about it once they settle into their way to the station. He's pushing his luggage in front of him all by himself, barely restraining himself to reach over and touch all of his stuff to make sure they're still real.

They still are, from his books about _magic_ , and his cauldron to brew _magic_ potions, to his _parchments_ and _inks_ and _feathers_ , because apparently the magic world turned its back on new technologies at some point.

He can't stop himself to reach into the front pocket of his sweater to feel his _magic wand_. It's in his protective case right now but he held it for real a first time in the _magic_ wand shop, in the _magic_ alley full of others _magic_ shops and _wizards_ and _witches_.

Because, as it turns out, incredibly enough, amazingly enough, the-best-thing-that-ever-happened-to-Skull enough, not only magic exists but Skull can _use_ it. Skull is a _wizard_ , off to his magic school where he'll learn how to use his magic and get his magic degree.

He still can't believe it's happening but it doesn't matter because it's still happening anyway.

His assigned wizard gives him looks because he can't hold still, skipping and jumping and taking off in short sprints but he doesn't care. He couldn't arrive in Hogwarts soon enough. And Skull would never leave it if he could, but having to spend only two months out of twelve at the orphanage for the next six years is the second best thing that ever happened to him.

They arrive at the station and Skull forgets all about his luggage duty, too busy looking at _everything_. The place is big, the ceiling so high, and they're so many people, and it's so noisy, and the _trains_ — where were the trains ?

He runs a few feet ahead trying to take it all in, craning his neck here and there and keeps running. And keeps running.

He looks back at some point to share a comment with his wizard only to realize he's not there. Only to realize he's not _anywhere_ in sight.

Skull freezes, part in panic and part because he knows not to wander around when he's lost and someone might be looking for him. And his wizard _is_ looking for him right ? He must be, he has all of Skull's luggage, and taking care of him until he is in the train is what he was told to do !

Skull waits but his wizard doesn't show up and he starts reassuring himself. His wizard _doesn't_ have all of his stuff. Oodako is right there with him, and his magic wand is in his pocket, and his school uniform with other first necessities are in his backpack. Even if his wizard doesn't magically manage to send his stuff to him somehow, he can make do with what little he's got on him just fine.

He's gonna be _just fine_. He just has to find the platform 9 3/4 and runs straight into the brick wall. He can do that, it's nothing. He's _eleven_ years old, not some helpless baby. Finding his way in an enclosed space can't be that hard.

Skull can't let it be that hard because he is a wizard and _goddammit_ he's going to his magic school one way or another.

He can't run full speed because then he can't look around for clues but the urge to do it anyway is strong. He's running out of time, and the train won't wait for him and then what ? He has to totally look like a lost child too, and the security is bound to catch up to him at some point, and then what ?

Skull doesn't want to think about it. His relief is palpable when two other running children speed past him, with what have to be wizards pets. There's a hawk and a… whatever it is the girl has wrapped around her thigh.

He takes off after them, uses all his years of running away from consequences and punishments and responsibilities to catch up to them, and snatches the boy by his arm to make him stop.

The boy catches the girl's arm in turn too, and the momentum almost make all three of them fall.

"What the hell ?" They both barks at him and Skull wonders if they are siblings or something.

"Wait," he says, raising one arm in surrender. He doesn't dare let go of the boy, even if logically he knows he could be wrong about them. But it's the only lead he has right now. "Please, I'm sorry, I just need help."

"With what ?"

"I'm lost and I'm looking for the same platform as you. I think so anyway. I hope so," he adds, a little desperately maybe because the girl stops trying to set herself free and looks up at him too. "You're… you're _that_ too, right ?" He barrels on despite their look of confusion. "Me too. I mean I'm a human but —"

"What did you say ?"

Skull shuts his mouth at the girl's tone and isn't sure he wants to open it again. "I'm human ?"

"And what are we then ?" The boy's tone is amused enough but Skull stays wary anyway.

"You're —" he looks around to make sure no one is listening and lowers his tone — "that," he ends up saying anyway because Minerva was very insistent about how the magical world is one big secret world which have to remain secret. "And I'm — " God, what is the word again ? Skull knows it isn't human, but he translated it like that in his head and now he doesn't remember the original term. Maybe if he shows them Oodako but —

"A muggle ?"

"Yes !" He beams, then sobers up just as quickly when the girl marches forward and stops right in front of him.

"Looking for the platform 9 3/4 ?"

"Yes ma'am." He tries for a smile but she's already showing his back to him.

"If I miss the train I'm going to kill you both."

Skull does think they should have something to say to that, but the other boy only starts running after her and he doesn't want to be left behind. When he spots the brick wall the girl is running straight to, a new vague of excitation hits him and he speeds up.

He would have been the first to pass through the wall if somebody didn't feel like yanking him by his shirt to slam him against it.

* * *

  
  


He came here before, a few days ago so his parents could show him how to end up in platform 9 3/4. They still went with him today so Reborn has to wonder what was even the point. He lost them in the crowd as soon as he could, alongside the tracking spell they put on him.

It became ridiculously easy to do so. Really, how old do his parents think he is ? He'll be _eleven_ years old soon, and the sooner they'd realize it, the more fun he'd find back to outsmarting them.

He came here before but he couldn't ever get enough of the muggle world. His parents certainly make sure he has as little of it as possible. There was nothing to see according to them but Reborn begs to disagree.

People born without magic, who took on the world and shaped it to better suit them anyway, and even succeeded better to do so than magic did in some aspects… Reborn thinks there is everything to see in the muggle world, and a lot to learn, and he was always an avid learner.

He steps out of the escalator and goes to the other one beside it to start his descent. Up and down, up and down, he's at it for almost fifteen minutes now. His high viewpoint allows him to see more at once, the things he's interested in — the people and the infrastructure and the various muggle jobs at display — as well as the things he ought to be wary to — like his parents who might still be lurking around for some unthinkable reason.

A couple gives him a look and Reborn smiles at them _just_ so, and ease them up enough that they do not interact with him. It's the fifth time it happens though, and he takes it at his cue to go on his way once he hits the floor.

He can't let anybody takes his seat in the train anyway, and doesn't want to be there for the tearful goodbyes. He would have made his way to the platform without trouble if it wasn't for the boy.

Reborn walks past him and back tracked immediately. He is around his age, sat against the brick wall, looking straight up at the magic one several feet away, apart from when he is writing in his book.

It's the white coat he's wearing that caught his attention, one commonly wore by the smartest of the muggles if he's not mistaken. The baby alligator on his leg is just a bonus.

"You see anything interesting ?"

Green eyes look up at him through round glasses. The boy gives him a once over then go back to his observations. "You're a wizard," he says in a way that only Reborn can hear.

Reborn doesn't bother to point out that it's the same for him. All his wizard stuff is piled up behind him. "What gave me away ?"

The boy shrugs. "You're about my age, alone but you don't look lost or worried in any way. You don't look like you're looking for someone either, and i don't see anyone who might be your parents around, which means they don't see you as defenseless as your status as a child should make you, especially in a public space like this. You were walking like you knew exactly where you were going and what you were doing and —" the boy pauses to take a deep breath, and Reborn is surprised he lasted that long for starting — "you have a lizard on your hat. A domesticated one I assume. My observations so far showed that wizards like having original pets."

"How," Reborn drawls, " _impressive_." The boy's pencil stutters to a halt. It's only then that he looks up at him again, with a somewhat surprised expression on his face. He's quick to look away though, his head hung low, his face shadowed by his green locks. Reborn isn't sure if the blush on his cheeks was really there. "What's your name ?"

"Verde."

"Call me Reborn." He crouches beside him. "Won't you tell me more, Verde ?"

Reborn didn't mean to lose himself in the conversation. It's not really even a conversation, more like a back-and-forth of questions which bring other questions, with occasionally some answers from either of them which bring even more question.

He's comfortably sat cross-legged on the floor before he realizes it, and with the both of them they blacken the pages of Verde's book easily one after another.

Verde's demeanor made a one eighty once he was assured of Reborn's attention. He went from an apathetic bored boy to an enthusiastic one, gesturing wildly with his hands to the rhythm of the excitation in his voice. The big smile on his lips lights up all of his face, and Reborn is sure he has no idea how many times a minute he pushes his glasses back up his nose or sweeps his hair out of his sight.

It's cute. Reborn tells him so. Verde blushes, and blushes harder when he tells him how he caught his earlier blush too.

The loudspeakers' announce of the next departures is like a cold shower. He bolts upright, and a wave of frustration hits him when Verde is too slow to catch up.

"Come on, get up. We're going to miss the train." He raises him up by his hand, then hides in his back, face to face with his luggage. "Don't look back."

"What ? Why —"

Reborn offers his index finger for Leon to crawl onto. "Shine," he whispers to her, and waits for the blinding light to surround them to cast his spell.

Verde's luggage shrinks considerably in size, and there's a pang in his chest at the thought of not being able to use his magic as freely anymore once he starts Hogwarts in due form, but it's a small price to pay for his new-found freedom.

Verde looks at him dumbly for a moment while he puts his bags in his pockets, Keiman cradled in his arms, but he catches on quickly.

"What —" he starts, an already familiar light shining in his eyes but Reborn can't indulge it right now.

"Later. Come on."

"What about _your_ —"

"It's already in the train."

They start running, and it's ridiculous that they even feel rushed because they're obviously going to make it. They're not far at all, and once they cross through the wall it is only a matter of getting on the train.

The crowd thickens the closer they get, and at first Reborn thinks it's because of them. Two children, alone, and running at full speed is bound to attract attention after all. But then he notices the three _other_ children running at full speed too opposite them.

They're making a beeline for the platform 9 3/4. One of them takes the lead, a purple haired boy who definitely isn't aware of _all the eyes on them_ , and Reborn speeds up without even realizing.

He gets two fistfuls of his shirt to tug him sideways, and use the momentum to spin them around and slam the boy against the side of the wall which isn't enchanted.

It brought the two others to a stop too, thankfully.

"What the hell ?" Three voices take offense in unison.

So maybe Reborn likes to do things… dramatically. So what ?

There's a flash of red at the corner of his eyes, followed by hands on his wrist and shoulder in a bruising grip. He winces.

 _That's_ what, apparently.  
  


* * *

  
  


Fon is sick to be treated like a child by his family. Yes he is young still, but no he is _not_ a child anymore. He is _eleven_ years old already.

They should have listened when he warned them about the portkey malfunctioning. Fon wouldn't have warned them in the first place if he didn't think it serious enough to be talked about.

He warned them multiple times, relentlessly, and yes it _was_ because he was worried it would work wrong on his big day. How they used it as a point against him is still beyond him.

The portkey did go wrong. It could have been way worse, he was grateful to note when they appeared a far cry from where they should have. At least they appeared both in the good country and the same town they were targeting.

At least _they appeared at all_.

Fon doesn't ever want to talk about how they managed to find their way back to the station, no matter how Chūn insists on how fun it was. _Ever_.

He takes a deep breath when they walk in, tries to calm himself down so Lichi will stop tugging at his hair. Things start to look up from then on. Things don't stay good for long.

There's an unusual crowd around the platform 9 3/4 and it isn't even the problem. The problem is that Fon is looking at it from _the other side_ , separated by the trains in between. He doesn't know when they'll leave, but they're not moving yet and there's a clear path towards his goal.

Fon hasn't the time to take the long way round. He needs to get there right now if he doesn't want to miss the train. He can go over there and through the wall before the security catch up to him, he's sure of it. He is a fast one after all.

But not fast enough that his sister doesn't yank him back into her embrace after only one step towards the platform's edge.

She sighs exaggeratedly. "How many times must I remind this family that I am now free to use my magic as I please for it to stick in your heads, uh ?"

Fon looks up, Chūn's strands of blond hair tickling his forehead, an apologetic smile on his face. In the next blink he's on the other side of the railroad, in the middle of the crowd with his belongings and all.

Other children are there too, seemingly the cause of the commotion. His first thought is that he can't walk through the wall with all the muggles there looking at them. Then he spots the two children caught in what looks like a fight and he stops thinking altogether, his body taking over.

He's over there in no time, faltered somehow in his movements like he bumped into someone even when there was no one on his way. He catches the wrist and shoulder of the one in an all black suit, the one who has the other boy's shirt bunched up in his fists.

And if Fon lets his frustration seep into his vice-like grip, making it just that much stronger, no one can tell.

"Let him go."

"Hello to you too, where did you come from ?" Black Suit smiles at him and Fon smiles back. Of course he just has to be of the annoying type.

Another boy in a white coat stops close by, too close to be neutral, and when Fon doesn't see recognition in the boy pushed against the wall he's quick to catch the newcomer in his grip. He snakes an arm around his neck and bends one of White Coat's arm in his back.

There're aborted shouts and movements from the crowd.

"Let him go," Fon repeats.

Black Suit doesn't smile anymore. He lets go, slowly, reaches an arm for his friend and Fon reaches back for his victim. They exchange the two boys without trouble.

"I think you misunderstood the situation." Black Suits says casually, smirking again.

"' _Misunderstood_ ?'" The boy at his side splutters, clutching at his hand. Purple, he names him. "You slammed me against a brick wall !"

"Rightfully so."

"You strangled me," White Coat butts in. "I had nothing to do with it."

"I did not." There's a beat of silence, and Fon supposes he deserves the nasty look send his way. He tries for a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry. He left me no choice."

"Oh please, you went straight to threatening me. If anything —"

Loud coughs from behind him cut Black Suit off. Fon looks back at his sister, standing a bit faraway next to his luggage.

"Hey kids," she waves at them, and he wonders what she finds so funny. "Not to worry you or anything, but you do realize your train is leaving in about —" she looks sideways to a clock up in a wall — "two minutes now yeah ?"

Her words scatter the crowd like a lightning bolt while Fon and the other children remain frozen in place. Until another child appears from thin air in the middle of them all, that is.  
  


* * *

  
  
This is _not_ what Verde imagined when magic came knocking at his door. Or, more precisely, slipped into his mailbox.

Verde didn't imagine magic would ever come into his life really. They thought the letter was a fluke at first. But as it turned out it was all true, and Verde had never been more glad to have been wrong in his life.

The days following the news were the most exciting of his life. Their trip to Diagon Alley alone blew his mind for days on end — blew all three of their minds. So much new concepts, things to question, things to understand. So much… _magic_.

It was a bit difficult at first for his parents to swallow all of it down. Not because as scientists they could not accept the concept of magic, but because it was a bit hard to believe an entire secret magic world succeeded to hide from them for so long — his dad's words. Even harder to believe that they were hiding by practically being in full sight — his mom's words.

Verde is of the opinion of all these authors who once said that magic is only an undiscovered and unexplained science, no matter that they didn't know that magic actually existed. Verde knows it does now, and not only he gets to study it, but he can also _use_ it, even when there isn't any known wizards in his family.

He is going to do the most of it, to dedicate himself to research magic until the rest of his life. He couldn't wait for the day he'd start his magical studies. The first thing he did each morning since he received the letter was cross the day on his calendar.

And all that only to end up surrounded by screaming children looking on whom to put the blame onto. Verde tuns them out and walks away towards his parents hovering nearby. They crouch before him in a hurry.

"Verde, sweety —"

"I'm fine mom, don't worry. We're just waiting for the people to go, and then we'll walk through the wall."

"But Son —"

"I'm _fine_ dad, just hurry up to your appointment. If anything goes wrong I'll wait for you to come back with a security officer."

His parents reach for him and he stays still under their touches, if only because the mayhem behind him can't be much reassuring at all. But everything _is_ fine, Verde could manage. He's _eleven_ years old, it's hardly made him unable to look after himself.

"Where's your luggage ?"

"Magic," he only says and doesn't give them time to question him. "Just _go_ now, mom, dad."

It takes another few incentives from him for his parents to listen. Verde watches them go for a bit before going back to his... acquaintances.

They're still screaming at each other and looks closer to break in an all out brawl than when he left. The sides are clearly defined too, even if he is sure it's not done on purpose. The girl and the blond are in one side, his Aggressor and the boy he saved on the other, so Verde supposes it puts him on Reborn's side.

He doesn't feel like taking part in the screaming match however. If anything it only keeps the focus on them longer, and the train certainly isn't going to wait for them.

Verde tuns them all out once again to indulge himself in his favorite hobby, namely, observing the world revolves around him.

That's how he notices them. Thanks to the looks of his Aggressor's sister towards an empty spot. Thanks to the others who keep stumbling and bumping against the void, too busy getting in each other's faces to notice.

Verde walks over where he suspects the invisible someone is. He raises his hand, but didn't actually expect a hooded figure to appear a split-second before he makes contact.

He doesn't scream in fear alongside the others, _he does_ _not_.

* * *

  
  


They did not think this through. No, scratch that, they _did_. This is their big trial after all, their chance to prove themselves and gain some independence — and Merlin knows they are in dire need of every scrape of independence they can get.

Viper thought through every step of their journey, the proof being, everything went perfectly. Their parents dropped them in the muggle world, and then they made their way to the station with no problem.

Now making themselves invisible helped them greatly, sure, but that's what is called coming up with a simple and efficient plan. It wasn't even that easy, Viper couldn't fly too high in case something went wrong, and had to consistently make sure to not bump into anyone or anything. Besides, muggles couldn't seem to stop looking at their cloak and hood as if they aren't common things in the muggle world too.

They went unnoticed on their way to the platform 9 3/4 without once asking for help from anybody, let alone their parents. Now they just have to walk through the wall, take their seat in the Hogwarts Express, in the compartment where their belongings are already stored — the only help they were allowed to have.

The problem is, well, they have multiple problems actually.

They're still invisible, facing a brick wall, and doesn't know when they should make themselves visible again. It's a busy station, and sure people are all minding their own businesses, but what if someone happens to be looking just when they appear back ? They'll keep looking, even if only for a moment, and Viper doesn't need anybody to see them walk through a wall.

And they _have_ to appear back before they can do so because they have no idea if they can walk through while invisible. What if the two spells interact badly with each other ? Viper isn't even using his magic right now but their psychic powers, and they aren't about to risk it. If they're ever going to die, it isn't gonna be by being stuck in a brick wall of all things.

The growing numbers of noisy kids around them is by far the greatest of their problem at the moment. They are drawing even more attention on a _magical platform while surrounded by muggles_ , getting louder and louder and tougher, and Viper struggles more and more to avoid contact with them.

Where in the world are _their_ parents ? Merlin, is that how they look from an external point of view ? Like a — like an _eleven_ years old ?

Viper couldn't become an adult fast enough. But right now they need to —

Their eyes land on the only adult witch around, only to realize said witch is already looking at them. At a still _invisible them_.

They startle, badly, bumping against the closest kid to them. It's a hard blow to their confidence in their powers, but the woman has a lot more experience than them in magic, there isn't much they can do about it. She walks forwards, straight to them it seems at first, only for a wave of magic to wrap around them all and the platform.

Viper appears at long last, relieved, and feel a hand on their back. They're familiar with the screams which ensue, always took delight in them, but much less familiar with their own which slip past them, but no one needs to ever know that. They don't wait for them to recover, instead turn on their heels straight through the wall.

They're almost immediately push back by the people on the other side trying to cross through. They would have been, but the others kids were quick to follow them, and they're all but used as both a shield and a spear to push past all the adults blocking the way.

The Hogwarts Express already on its way is the sight that welcome them. The train is leaving. Slowly for now, but still —

 _The train is leaving_.

The strings of curses in their back is surprising, but they echo their own thoughts perfectly. When the others kids all brush past him running madly, Viper isn't sure about what to do.

Viper hasn't the time to decide what they _want_ to do either that the purple one turns back, snatches him by the arm and starts running again.

What do they think they're doing ? The train is already leaving !

Purple Boy frees his hand to run ahead but they don't stop. Maybe they have a plan. Maybe they could still make it. Maybe —

Purple Boy _jumps_ on the train, finds his footing on an open window, and the stutters in their steps is so brutal they all almost fall down head first.

"Are you _crazy_ ?" The blond one screeches over the train's noises, but Purple Boy is already _climbing up to the roof_ instead of letting himself in through the open window.

"Just jump !" he screams back. "You can do it !"

Viper _cannot_ and **will not** do it. But lo and behold, and they swear it on Merlin's beard, the crazy people alongside whom they're running start to actually _build their momentum_.

This isn't happening.

The blond speeds up, taking the lead, the rest of them lining up behind him — _Merlin_ , they're really going to do it.

This couldn't be happening.

It is happening anyway right in front of them, and Viper supposes they might as well line up too and do it. They're gathering their courage when —

"Are you kids out of your minds ?" They're incredibly relieved to look back at the witch running after them, looking positively horrified. There _is_ someone else who is sane and sound of mind. Viper looks back ahead, and the next thing they know they're on the roof of a moving Hogwarts Express. "Fon," the _crazy_ witch screams again, "catch !"

Viper could not care less what it is she threw at whoever this Fon is. They are _on the roof of a moving train_ , laying flat onto their stomach, and this was _not_ part of their perfectly crafted plan.

The wind and their beating heart are deafening them, but from the sounds they manage to catch the landing isn't going smoothly for the others either. They bring a hand to their hood so it stays put over their face and remind themselves to breath.

They're fine, everything is fine. They didn't miss the train and they didn't use anybody else helps for that. The witch was only helping this Fon kid, and Viper just happened to be in the vicinity of this help.

Their parents didn't need to know anything about this anyway.

"Excuse me, is everything alright ?"

Viper _is_ fine. They'll be better as soon as they find their way inside the train somehow, but hopefully someone is already on their way to fetch them.

"Hello ? Do you hear me ? Is everything alright up there ?"

First thing first once they recover is to catch these people's names so they could avoid them for the rest of their life. Who need that type of crazy in their life ? Viper isn't ever going to acknowledge them ever again in any way whatsoever, and everything will be _just fine_.

"Excuse me ? Please answer me."

It takes them multiple seconds to understand that the voice comes from down there. Viper crawls painfully slowly to the edge of the train and look downwards.

"Oh, you're there, it's good !" The boy is halfway out of the window. The wind is messing up his hair and vivid green eyes shine through round glasses. "Is everything okay, do you need help ?"

He has a scar in the form of a lightning on his forehead. Viper's heart skips a beat, and maybe it stops beating altogether.

 _Merlin's beard_ , is that —

" — Harry Potter ?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- huo throws fon's luggage at him, somehow, magically, don't ask me  
> \- (it's her also who teleported them on the roof, in case you didn't catch it)  
> \- lal almost falls down from the train because of her luggage  
> \- viper are one big fan boy of harry, yes  
> \- luce is already in the train while all of this takes place because she is the one and only reliable eleven years old of them all
> 
> This took SO long to write, god. I worked on it all day long yesterday. And i plan to bring in Luce's pov at some point too, fjlkdjf. I was planning to have each of their pov at each chapter but yeah, no, i'm not so sure about it anymore lmao. I'll try because that's how i planned this story format but don't count too much on it.
> 
> Welp folks, here's my Hogwarts AU. Guess that's makes me a legitimate fanfiction writer non lmao. The Harry Potter books and movies are such a vague memory tho, so again, don't except too much accuracy please (or any sldfjlfkm). Also if someone would be so kind as to summarize the main plot lines of the first tome, i'll gladly and gratefully take it haha.
> 
> I hope you liked the chapter. Any and all review are appreciated. Thank you for reading !
> 
> \- w_h


	2. Hogwarts Express

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Arcobaleno try not to kill each other during the ride. Keyword : try.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just so slow whenever i write this story, it's unbelievable. And i don't mean it in a i struggle writing the chapters way. I know what i want to write, and where i'm going, and what happens after. I'm just... slow jfkkmdslù.
> 
> In a more joyous note, thank you all for your kudos. 
> 
> And you may or may not have notice the change in the title, but all credit for the title of this story goes to FireEmblemLover39 (on ffnet.) 
> 
> Here is the second chapter, i hope you'll enjoy it !

Reborn feels quite satisfied, all things considered. It’s pissing the others off who keep giving him annoyed-to-angry looks but he doesn’t care. He’s too pressed against the wall for comfort, his cross-legged only giving him back so much space. The wind brushes over him from above, and his hand is secure around his fedora lest it flies away and Leon with it.  
  
He wasn’t too happy to see his chosen compartment taken over by a group of girls, his suitcase disregarded where it laid underneath the seat. He took it back with only a smile nonetheless, and fell back in steps with the others, who had fell back in steps with Viper, who _did_ look like they knew where they were going.  
  
The news spread quickly once some seniors got them back inside the train, and looks and whispers followed them until their compartment but they were all smart enough not to acknowledge them. Reborn knows teachers back at the school will hear about this, and most likely their first stop once they’ll arrive will be at a teacher’s office if not the headmaster’s.  
  
Clearly not the best of first impression, but it’s not like he cares much about it. What Reborn cares about is how their parents will surely receive a letter about it too. They _did_ ride a train on its roof no matter how brief, and jumped on it for one of them.  
  
Reborn steals a look at the purple haired boy sat on the seat opposite, on the door sides. He wanted to be early on the train to escape the craziness of its departure, thought he could just wait to be in the actual school before doing his best to turn his parents crazy. But _jumping on the train_ while it’s leaving the platform…  
  
Reborn should have thought about it. He can only imagine his parents’ face when they’ll read the letter, and he almost regrets he won’t be there to see it in person.  
  
He gives the boy a smile he doesn’t see and gazes back at the window. The excited chatter of the others students fills the silence of their compartment, muffled as it is by the closed door, alongside the train's wheels and the occasional steam whistle. He’s quite bored now that everything settled down. The blond one of the group sent his bird flew off the window to give some sort of message to his parents, but beside that nothing else happened.  
  
He just closed his eyes when someone speaks up.  
  
"I'm glad we all made it." All eyes zero on Purple Boy, who doesn't shy away from the attention. "It was a bit scary but it was fun too, right ?"  
  
"'A bit' ?"  
  
The boy perks up, oblivious to Viper’s incredulous tone. "Yeah, I never jumped on a train before. And the roof ! Oh, wait, how did _you_ got there ?"  
  
"My sister made us appear there," Red Shirt says, a polite smile on his lips.  
  
"Oh the blonde girl ? That was so cool ! Tell her to not forget me next me okay ?" His feet sway back and forth in excitement, only to stop and freeze like any of them voiced their disbelief aloud. "If she wants of course," he adds quickly. "Please ? Tell her I said please."  
  
Red Shirt looks around quickly but doesn't get any help from them. He smiles wider and talks with a confident voice. "Okay, I will. Promise. I'm sure she won't mind."  
  
Purple boy’s shoulders sag, and he slumps against the wall. "Thank you." His grin is back on his face and his feet sway with a renewed enthusiasm. "I wished they’d let us longer on the roof you know ? It was going so fast ! And the wind too, it was hard to hear right ?"  
  
The girl's voice cuts through his bubble. "It wasn’t fun at all. I almost _fell_ , remember ?"  
  
"I do," the boy says defensively. He straightens up and curls his hands around the straps of his backpack. "I'm the one who caught you — _we_ both caught you." He steals a glance at the blond boy opposite Reborn. "I wasn't talking about that..." His voice dwindles out at the end when the girl crosses her arm on her chest. He looks down, his shoulders hunched over. Both Red Shirt and Verde open their mouths then, but he perks up again and cuts them off. "I’m Skull by the way ! It’s my street name but I like it better. What’s your names ?"  
  
There’s another bout of silence and Reborn brings his hat over his mouth to hide his smile. Verde’s frustration beside him goes up another notch when he notices anyway.  
  
The blond huffs a laugh. "I’m Colonnello."  
  
"Reborn." He gives them a quick nod.  
  
"Fon." Red Shirts says, then tilts his head. "Your parents gave you the name of a street ?"  
  
Skull hasn't the time to react at all to that that Colonnello bursts out laughing. Even Verde is smiling. Reborn leans forward a bit, ready to learn another thing about the muggle world.  
  
"What ?" He waves his hands quickly. "No, no, they didn’t... I don’t... maybe ?" When Fon looks even more confused, Skull only shrugs. "I’m an orphan so I don’t know how my parents chose my name. My real name I mean."  
  
Colonnello comes to the rescue. "It’s a muggle thing guys. Like a nickname or something."  
  
Skull cries his agreement and they drop the matter. Reborn still makes note to do some research later, by asking Skull himself preferably.  
  
The girl sighs loudly. "I’m Lal."  
  
"Verde."  
  
"Get out of my compartment." Viper says, and gets ignored like the other three times.  
  
"Nice to meet you !" Skull beams, almost falling from his seat. "I’m Skull," he says again, and he still needs a second to catch on on his mistake when they laugh at him. Then he’s laughing with them good-naturedly.  
  
The silence falls back in the compartment after that, and Reborn makes himself comfortable in his seat, puts both of his feet on the floor. They’ll arrive only at night, it’s going to be a long ride. Maybe he could nap during some of it.  
  
If Skull would be kind enough to shut up anyway. "Do you guys want to see my octopus ?"  
  
All eyes zero on him again and it already feels familiar. Reborn is only half surprised to realize he’s the one to cut through the silence with his laugh.  
  
An octopus ? _That’s_ what he chose to bring as his pet ? A muggle with an octopus as his pet, who jumps on moving train without a second thought and goes by the name of Skull.  
  
His parents will _hate_ him.  
  
Reborn is keeping him.  
  
But first —   
  
"Can i just say —" he waits for the attention to shift on him, and then a bit longer for dramatic effect — "his name is Viper."

* * *

Fon doesn’t like this Reborn guy. The boy likes troubles, and doesn’t seem the type to bother with taking responsibility for them. The seats and walls are shaking, the window and the door vibrating, and he’s afraid the shelves above their heads will fall on them alongside their luggage.  
  
Viper stands in all his anger, blocking the way to the door, and it looks like he’s holding his wand underneath his cape. Reborn has his own too but he just sits there, blinking innocently at them while his smile is all but innocent.  
  


"What are you doing ?" Lal screams. She’s the closest to Viper apart from Fon, and backed down against Verde. Skull is standing in the corner, itching for the door little by little. "Stop it, you're gonna break everything !"  
  
"Apologize to him," Colonnello urges, tugging at Reborn pants. His eyes dart between him, Viper and the window. "You just insulted him right ?"  
  
Reborn face turns even more innocent. "Not at all, it's his real name."  
  
A crack appears on the window. "I didn’t want to give it to you."  
  
"Why not ?" Viper turns around to look at Skull and Fon stands up to go to his side just in case. "Don't you like it ? I think it’s a cool one but you can always choose another one you know ? Right ?" He looks to the others for support and Colonnello is quick to nod enthusiastically.  
  
"Yeah, of course. _Totally_. Whatever you’d like, right guys ?"  
  
"That's not what I meant."  
  
"What did you mean ?" Skull frowns, obviously lost. He steals a glance at Fon but he’s not sure either. The compartment is still shaking all over. "What did you mean ?" He asks Viper again. "Maybe Reborn just doesn't know either ?"  
  
One of the shelf almost falls down and they all jump out of their seat. Their luggage stays in a precarious balance on it. Skull takes a step closer to the door and Fon follows him.  
  
A few, tense seconds later everything stills but no one dares to move anyway. Viper sits back down without a care, and they still don't move.  
  
"You’re all _idiots_." He smooths his cape around him. "Don’t speak to me again. Or call me by my name, I didn’t want you to know it." There's a pause then before he looks up. "Or use 'he' with me."  
  
"You’re a girl ?" Colonnello blurts out, and slaps his hands on his mouth too late.  
  
"Don’t use 'she' either." He — he ? — continues before any of them can voice their questions. "'They' and 'their' are fine. But it's only for the people who can talk to me."  
  
Colonnello jabs Reborn in the ribs before he can say anything. The shelf falls down loudly and they all startle. Viper doesn't — can he use doesn't ? — acknowledge the stares they get.  
  
When they all sit back, some of their luggage and the shelf under the seats, Reborn looks as pleased and unbothered as before all this and Fon decides to just ignore him. He really doesn’t like him.  
  
He _does_ likes Skull however, or Purple — for his hair, and sweater, and backpack, and shoes. Fon is more of a red guy himself but it fits him. He’s quiet now and it fits him less.  
  
He nudges him with his elbow. "You said you had an octopus ?"  
  
Skull’s face lights up. "I do ! Look." He pulls his necklace out from under his sweater, of all the places he could have hide an _octopus_. At the end of it there’s a fishbowl inside which an octopus has all his tentacles against the glass and doesn’t move. There’s water too, and hopefully some tiny holes for air.  
  
Skull taps the fishbowl two times and the animal comes to life, splashing the water lazily. "I called him Oodako. I found him when we went on the beach this one time with the orphanage. He was hurt so i brought him back with me."  
  
"He’s… really tiny."  
  
"Yeah, I needed to hide him. And it’s easier when i have to go out. But I can make him bigger ! You wanna see ?"  
  
Fon nods eagerly. Skull unlocks the fishbowl from its chain and puts it on one of his thigh. He cups it with both of his hands and bites his lip in concentration.  
  
It takes a moment for the makeshift aquarium to grow bigger. The octopus grows with it until it’s the size of a soccer ball. Skull moves it from his thigh and puts it in between them both.  
  
"Ta-da !" He grins proudly at him. Oodako swims in circle, enjoying his gain of space, even if the water barely reaches up half of his tentacles now.  
  
Someone tugs his shirt in his back. "Can’t see," Colonnello complains, and Fon leans back to stop blocking his view. He takes the opportunity to turn his gaze towards the others who are all looking their way. There is not much else to do he guesses.  
  
"Doesn’t he need to be completly submerged in water ?" Verde asks.  
  
"Not anymore. But Oodako feels better when he is in water so I need to find him an aquarium when we’ll be in school. Oh, look." Skull glances at the door before taking out the fishbowl's lid. Oodako clings at the edge with two tentacles and peeks his head above it. "Say hi Oodako."  
  
Fon waves back at the octopus, chuckling a little. He startles a bit when Litchi jumps down from his head on his lap. "Want to say hi too, Litchi ?" Oodako keeps waving and Skull reaches over to scratch Litchi’s head. They grin at each other.  
  
"I don’t think they’ll let you keep it at school."  
  
Skull immediately brings Oodako close to his chest. He glares at Reborn. "Why not ? He won’t do anything bad."  
  
"It’s an _octopus_. Hogwarts only accepts owls and cats and toads." Skull curls on himself further and Fon wants to step on Colonnello’s foot.  
  
"Viper is the only one with a toad here. Or frog. Whatever."  
  
That shuts all of them up. Fon actually can’t see their pets being allowed to stay with them at Hogwarts. But he really can’t see himself stay there without Litchi with him either. None of them can, if their upset face is anything to go by.  
  
At least he’s not the one with a centipede.  
  
Skull and Colonnello gasp, Reborn snorts, and oh, did he spoke out loud ?

* * *

Lal doesn’t know how she ended up there, with these guys. No, actually, it’s pretty clear. It’s the blond one’s fault — Colonnello or whatever, _why_ did they exchange their names ? Lal has _no_ intention to stay with them if she doesn’t have to. He ran into her and everything got worse from there.  
  
No, actually, if her parents just let her do things the magic way, she’d arrived sooner and wouldn’t have meet any of them. It’s really her parents’ fault, as usual.  
  
It’s a bit Skull’s fault too, and definitely Fon’s sister’s. Why wouldn’t she make them appear inside the train ? Or make the train stop ? Or anything else than what she did really.  
  
So Lal knows exactly how she ended up there, with these guys. She doesn’t know _why_ this is happening to her. She’d listen to Viper and go find herself another compartment, but then she’d have to answer the questions and what not.  
  
She is stuck with them until they arrive at school.  
  
She _isn’t_ going to let them talk bad about Zamza.  
  
"Don’t insult him."  
  
"I’m not," Fon is quick to say. "I’m sorry. He is really cute."  
  
"He is really big. How big is he ?" Verde leans forward a bit and she scoots closer to Viper. Zamza is tightly curled on himself on her lap and she wrapps her hands around him. "Did you enchant him ?"   
  
"Did you ?" She asks him, looking pointedly at the baby alligator on his shoulder.  
  
"Keiman is really a baby. But he is enchanted. What about your centipede ?"  
  
Lal doesn’t answer. She gives Viper some space back and busies herself with stroking Zamza lightly. She doesn’t have to play nice with them, does she ? If Viper can ignore them all and be ignored in turn, there’s no reason she can’t do it too.  
  
Besides, she has other things to think about. Like how she’ll smuggle Zamza in the castle. She had a plan. Zamza is really easy to hide and ignore when he is in his original size, Lal is sure no one would have notice. But now she drew attention on her and she's afraid the teachers will search her or something.  
  
Maybe she should just leave them behind and actually find another compartment in the train. Then she could pretend she has nothing to do with them.  
  
Zamza stirrs under her too-heavy caresses and crawls under her shirt to wrap around her belly. Some of the others wince at the sight and it makes her smile.  
  
"Is he _under_ your shirt ? That’s disgusting."  
  
Lal leans forward to look at Reborn, who is in much the same position at her. "Disgusting yourself."  
  
"Where did you even find him ?"  
  
"How did you train him ?" Colonnello says and goes ignored.  
  
"Where did you find your lizard ?"  
  
"Leon is the best lizard you’ll ever see in your whole life."  
  
"Zamza could swallow him whole."  
  
Viper snickers, not subtle at all, and Lal grins with all of her teeth out. Reborn narrows his eyes for a second before smiling his stupid smile.  
  
"You’re so not cute. Like your pet." He straightens up and puts his hat back on his head. "Leon is a girl, and if you hurt her I’m going to hurt _you_."  
  
She jumps on her feet. "Not if I hurt you first." Lal could take him. Even if he could fight his suit would make it difficult. She’s taller than him too.  
  
Reborn peers up at her and she raises her eyebrows in challenge.  
  
"Well, _I_ think you’re really cute. Right guys ? Don’t listen to him."  
  
Colonnello flashes her a bright, genuine smile which leaves her speechless. All the focus is on her now in a way she’s not comfortable with and she deflates quickly. She glares at those ready to speak up and they settle to only smile at her, which makes her blush anyway.  
  
Zamza wiggles and she crosses her arms above him to keep him in place. She can handle some compliments just fine. This is nothing.  
  
"Are you all blind ?" Lal turns around back to Reborn. He looks her up and down. "You’re even less cute than your centipede. Or any girl i have ever seen." He smiles proudly, and she takes a deep long breath.  
  
He doesn't see her coming when she jumps on him.

* * *

Viper almost wishes their saviors would have left them on the roof, almost. Or that they would have missed the train. Or maybe some of them could have fall off the roof.  
  
On the bright side Lal is trying to kill Reborn right now and it’s honestly the highlight of their day. They have half the mind to help her, seeing that the others look more like they want to stop the fight, but then Reborn would want his revenge on them.  
  
Verde’s screams of distress goes ignored, caught between the two, not because they don’t want to help but they have to gather the courage to try to interfere first. Skull jumped on his feet at some point to do something — Viper really isn’t sure when it comes to the boy —, but got yank back in his seat by Fon.  
  
Still, they hope the ride won't be like that until the end. It feels like they're stuck with them since forever already, but it must have been only a couple hours since the train left. It must have been one hour _at the very least_ since the train left. Merlin be good, _it has to be_.  
  
The door opens and Viper looks up to see a boy of their age, with a round face and black hair, half hidden by the wall. He doesn’t meet their eyes, not like he could anyway. He doesn’t meet Skull's or Fon's eyes either, the only two others who noticed him.  
  
The boy glances at the fight, where the trio is now standing up, and immediately looks down and keep his eyes there. "Sorry, I, um — sorry. Did you see my toad maybe ? I lost him."  
  
Skull and Fon look at them and Skull earns a kick in the shin for that. "Fantasma is mine."  
  
"We didn’t see him, sorry." Fon says while Skull tries to kick back and fails.  
  
The boy manages to smile back before he goes running. By now Colonnello is entangled in the fight too, which moved on to the floor. He’s not succeeding with whatever he's trying to do, which just might be because of how much fun he seems to be having.  
  
Viper doesn’t pay enough attention from then on to know how they all break apart and sit back. They only care that they do, and welcome the silence back seeing they have decisions to make.  
  
They have one decision to make actually — no, actually they already did take their decision, they’re just not sure if they should act on it. They just want to say hello, but they don’t want to bother him. Or they could just walk past his compartment and get a good look of him.  
  
Viper goes as far as touching the floor with their tip toes before sliding back in their seat. Again.  
  
"Do you want to pee ?" It takes them a moment to understand Verde is talking to them.  
  
"What ?"  
  
"You keep moving in your seat. I’m sure there is a restroom somewhere in the train."  
  
"I don’t want to pee."  
  
"But you want to go somewhere ?"  
  
Colonnello bounces on his seat. "Oh. Oh ! Do you want to go see Harry Potter ? He’s there right ? I heard you say his name when we were on the roof."  
  
"Harry Potter is there ?" Reborn asks.  
  
"That’s what Viper said."  
  
"Who’s Harry Potter ?"  
  
Verde backs down when they gap at him. Viper themselves has to fight against their shock, but Verde is a muggle after all. Besides, they’re glad for the change of subject.  
  
"Who’s Harry Potter ?" Skull asks again.  
  
Colonnello launches himself into the story, and Viper thinks it’s the most calm and amicable they all have been with each other since they met. When he’s done both Skull and Verde and Colonnelo himself are looking at them expectantly, and they can’t really hide their own eagerness.  
  
They stand up and all three of them make their way to Harry Potter’s compartment.  
  
On their way there they realize they’re not doing a good job at ignoring these people so far, but they can’t care about that right now.

* * *

_Harry Potter._  
  
It’s weird Colonnello never really realized they were born the same year. Never did the math and realized they’d start Hogwarts _at the same time_.  
  
He’s sharing a train with Harry Potter and he isn’t quite realizing this either. He heard so much about him growing up, had been told his story so many times, for him he was always a character of the most incredible story more than a real, living kid he could meet one day.  
  
The skip in his steps doesn’t leave him even when the bite Verde’s alligator left him pulses with pain each time. Viper is a few feet ahead, walking and floating in turn, stopping dead in their tracks other times, and he tries to not laugh too loudly.  
  
Skull tugs at his sleeve. "This Big Bad Guy who attacks babies, he _is_ dead right ? Right ?"  
  
"Yeah, of course."  
  
"I have questions too," Verde says from his other side. "Will I find books where I could learn more ?"  
  
Colonnello snorts. "Yeah, _a lot_."  
  
He looks back forward when Verde smiles, satisfied, only to bump into Viper who manages to not even bulge. They stay quiet so he has to peak above their shoulder to see what’s happening. He blinks at the two boys inside the compartment at their left, one with red hair and the other with black hair, and neither of them look much like a Harry Potter.  
  
He notices then the mountain of candy between them and bursts into the compartment without thinking.  
  
"Did you buy all the trolley for yourselves ?" He cries indignantly and the boys startle. "I wanted some too you know !"  
  
He marches forward, and the black haired boy scrambles to his feet so quickly he almost falls. He plasters himself against the window and Colonnello pauses, taken aback.  
  
Skull steps on his foot and promptly ignores his cries of pain. "That was really mean Colonnello. You shouldn’t scare people like that." Colonnello gapes at him, but he only turns around to face the other boy. "Hi." He waves cheerfully. "Sorry about him, he’s just hungry. Just forget him okay ? I’m Skull."  
  
"Harry," the boy says shyly.  
  
"Ron. Ron Wesley."  
  
"Hi Ron." Skull waves at him too. "This is Colonnello, Verde and Viper. Are you okay with sharing the candy with us ?"  
  
Ron and Harry exchange a look before respectively smiling and shrugging their shoulders. Colonnello is still pouting when the fourth of them sit opposite them. He is still pouting even when they let them choose whichever candy they want among their pile.  
  
Skull stepped on his foot _hard_ , and it _hurts_. He wants to take his revenge on him but then Harry catches his eye and immediately looks away. He doesn’t look back.  
  
Colonnello frowns. Did he actually scare the boy ? He chews on his lip, and the more he looks at Harry, small and thin and swimming in his clothes, the worse he feels.  
  
"I’m sorry Harry," he blurts out. "Mom always say I can be a bit scary sometimes." He laughs a bit, scratching his head. "Please forgive me ?" He offers back a chocolate frog, and grins when Harry takes it with a little smile.  
  
It’s less awkward after that. Ron and him watch over Verde and Skull discovering magical candies, laughing at the various faces they make, with Harry butting in here and there. Viper stays worryingly silent beside him. And still. Colonnello hopes their eyes aren’t frozen on Harry too, because even if they can’t see them the boy is bound to notice. He wouldn’t be surprised if they are, Colonnello himself can’t help stealing glances at him.  
  
It’s Verde who turns out the bravest of them. "You’re Harry Potter then ? The one with the lightning scar ?"  
  
Harry only holds his hair up with a little smile. Viper gasps, much like himself. The scar is… more normal looking than he would have thought really. But it’s _the_ scar, left there by the Killing Curse, which Harry _survived_.  
  
Harry lets his hair fall down and he is a bit disappointed at that.  
  
"Does it hurt you ?" Skull asks. He lightens up when Harry shakes his head instead of speaking up with his mouth full. "You saved the world then ? Like a super hero. That’s really cool."  
  
Harry chuckles. "Not really, I was just a baby." He shrugs. "I didn’t do anything."  
  
"What’re you saying mate ?" Ron exclaims. "You survived the Killing Curse. And You-Know-Who. You _defeated_ him."  
  
"I think —" Viper’s voice comes out strangled, and their face looks a little red. Colonnello bumps their shoulders together to encourage them. They clear their throats, and they all quiet down in response. "I think all the magical world should thank you, Harry."  
  
No one says anything for a moment but Viper bravely stands their ground, his back and head straight. When the surprise passes, Harry gives them a genuine small and they relax.  
  
"Thank you. But I’d prefer it if you could all thank my parents instead."  
  
Viper nods but don’t say anything else. They held their head low, their hands clutching his cape on their lap. Their cheeks are bright red but there’s a smile on their lips.  
  
Colonnello puts an arm around their shoulder and keep his laugh silent. Skull doesn’t manage to do the same and he kicks him halfheartedly.  
  
Later when Ron’s rat make an appearance and Verde _screams_ at its sight, they both burst out laughing.

* * *

When the others come back from meeting with Harry and Ron, they all launch into an animated conversation about The Boy Who Lived.  
  
The Boy Who Lived.  
  
Skull isn’t sure how he feels about the whole story. He knows he finds it horrible what happened to Harry, and really scary, even if he understands why the magical world would see him as a hero. He finds it really sad too that he lose his parents when he was only a baby.  
  
They don’t talk about that though. They don't talk about how Harry is so small and so thin for his age either, or how his clothes are too big for him and look old, or how he backed down from Colonnello when he made a beeline for him in his full height and with his loud voice.  
  
A lot of the kids at the orphanage looked just like him on their first day, and a lot of the other days after too. If he’s not an orphan then Skull is sure his family isn’t a good or a kind one. He hopes it isn’t a violent one at least.  
  
Maybe Harry and him could become friends.  
  
Oodako nudges his foot where he puts him under the window and he smiles at him gratefully. He stays out of the lively conversation anyway, and leans against the wall to gaze out the window.  
  
Viper’s voice is the one he hears the most surprisingly, all excited and energetic. He seems nice when he’s not busy pretending he’s not. _They_ seem nice when _they’re_ not busy pretending _they’re_ not — or is it 'their not’ ? — Skull needs to ask… _Viper_ for a more clear explanation.  
  
He lets the conversation lulls him to sleep, and when Fon wakes him up it’s dark outside.  
  
"We’re almost there," he whispers. "You should change too. And hide Oodako."  
  
Skull straightens up immediately, all need to sleep forgotten. He hurries to take off his backpack and fishes out his uniform but pauses halfway.  
  
"Where’s Lal ?"  
  
"She’s changing somewhere else," Fon says, and a blush rises up both of their cheeks.  
  
They change in their uniforms in silence, a nervous and excited energy all around them. When Viper appears back, they’re wearing pants and his robe — _their_ robe doesn’t show anything. Skull just shrugs it off and lets the matter drop altogether, and the others do the same. The pointy hat who goes down all the way to their nose is still a bit disappointing. _How_ do they even see anything like that ?  
  
Skull shrugs that off too and hurries to get off the train, the others right behind him. He takes a deep breath of fresh air once he’s outside. The platform is crowded, everyone whispered chatter merging together until he can’t make out anything.  
  
Skull is of average size so he doesn’t see much past the other students around him. The _literal giant_ ahead of him is hard to miss though.  
  
"All the first years," the _giant_ screams, "come with me. This way please."  
  
The movement of the crowd moves him forward while he can only look starred-eyed at the _giant_. A helpless and nervous and gleeful chuckle escapes him, and he needs to stumble on his feet first to stop staring.  
  
His smiles falls down when he notices Viper walking away from them.  
  
"Wait Viper, where are you going ?"  
  
"Away from you, what do you think ? " Lal gives them a pointed look before disappearing in the crowd too.  
  
Verde follows her in her tracks. "I’m going too. I want to focus on my studies and you guys are… distracting."  
  
Fon makes a noise and Skull turns his head so fast it cracks. "You too ?"  
  
"I want to see if I can handle myself without help." He gives him a sheepish smile. "My parents want me to have good grades too."  
  
Colonnello wraps an arm around their shoulders. "My parents too. And they’ll freak out when they’ll learn about the train thing, so I need to _really_ behave from now." He gives them a tap in their back and squeezes between the two of them without looking back. Fon follows, and does look back, but follows anyway.

And just like that they're all gone.  
  
Skull tries to find back his smile. It’s a bit disappointing, but it’s not like they won’t see each other again. Maybe they’ll even be in the same class, and Skull could try to be their friends again. Or he can try to find other friends than them, they don’t seem really interested after all.  
  
He puts his hands in his pockets and stops searching them in the crowd.  
  
Reborn falls back in step with him and he almost jumps out of his skin. "Looks like it's just us now."  
  
"Reborn ! What — you — you’re staying ? With me ?"  
  
Reborn tilts his head. "You don’t want to ? You’re fun, I like you."  
  
"No ! I mean _yes_ — I mean —" he trails off, and tries not to hope too much. He narrows his eyes. "You still slammed me against a brick wall."  
  
"I apologized."  
  
"No you didn’t."  
  
"Really ?" Reborn blinks innocently at him and Skull finds himself laughing. He intertwines their arms together.  
  
"It’s okay, I forgive you. Let’s try to get close to the giant and talk to him when we can, okay ?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
Skull grins at him and grins wider when Reborn smiles back. A skip is back to his steps, and he hums a random tune to himself. He made himself a friend. Only one, but that’s just what he asked isn’t it ?  
  
Skull hoped to find at least one friend at his new school, and he did. That's all he needs to be happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- lal has no chills, and i focus on her anger for now but remember the girl is stressed alright. she is just lashing out, which granted is maybe not the best way to deal with her anger lmao. my point is, you'll see other sides of her eventually  
> \- colonnello has most definitely a crush, which might or might not last  
> \- viper have a crush of their own too you might say qmdlmqss
> 
> A lot of interactions in this chapter, i hope it was fine. They part way at the end of the chapter but they obviously will find each other again, no worries. They already like each other for some of them (while some are vowing their eternal hate to each other qmflkglqkld).
> 
> Verde's POV comes back next chapter.
> 
> I hope you liked the chapter. Any and all review are appreciated. Thank you for reading !
> 
> \- w_h


	3. The Sorting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sorting Hat came there to have a good time and feels honestly so attacked right now. (The poor thing just wants to do his job.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for the sorting guys. If you go all _nope_ about the names i had to come up with, just tell yourselves you won't see them often alright? I put a little bit of thought behind them too so like, don't be too harsh sdfghjk.
> 
> That said, enjoy the chapter!

"Did I miss something?" Skull asks, even when he made sure to listen to all of Minerva's speech. He felt the shift of the energy surrounding them after it, from an excited nervousness to an apprehensive one. The chatter between the others students almost stopped altogether, everyone looking like they're in their own world.

"They worry about the sorting," Reborn says. They're still linked by their arm, which Reborn tolerates only as long as Skull keeps walking like a normal person.

"What about it? It's just where we're gonna sleep, isn't it?"

"It's not." Skull snaps his eyes back to Reborn at his serious tone. All the hallways so far looked the same anyway, and he could already see himself lost in them. "It's about who you are, how the others will see you depending on your house. It's a big deal for a lot of us."

Skull frowns, trying to wrap his head around the idea of a _house_ which could tell all that about himself. As far as he is concerned they're just talking about dormitories. "Do you think we'll be together?"

Reborn huffs a laugh. "Not a chance. You look nothing like a Slytherin."

Skull is about to argue to that on principle alone, because he has actually no idea what a Slytherin is supposed to be like, when they stop in front of huge doors. They open on the biggest room he has ever seen, with four tables almost as long as its length, and a fourth one looming over all the others one at the very end of the room, facing the doors.

The Great Hall— that's how Minerva called it—is lit in a dimmed, warm orange glow thanks to the countless floating candles in the air. Skull tries not to stare too openly because no one else is, and focuses instead on the night sky above his head to remove himself from the eyes of all the others students sitting at the tables. If Reborn notices how he snuggles against him closer, he doesn't say anything.

The mood gets lighter the more first years get sorted in their house. The enthusiastic claps of welcome at each sorting have a lot to do with it, and the excitation spread among them once more. Skull starts clapping alongside the others students too, which encourage some others to do the same.

He pauses when a first year is sorted in Slytherin, the first one so far, and the boy gets booed and mocked at the same time Slytherin applauds him.

Skull is _baffled_ when the teachers don't say anything, when no one does, when he hears some people _laugh_ in response. The boy walks fast towards his table, eyes cast downwards and his cheeks red.

Reborn shrugs at him when he gives him a worried look, and Skull squeezes his hand in comfort anyway. When he is sorted in Slytherin like he said he would be, when he is booed and mocked too, he makes up his mind about the house he wants to be in.

He falters when his name is called.

"Khalil De Mort."

The Great Hall goes dead silent. Minerva doesn't react at all when everyone's attention focuses on her and doesn't repeat herself. Skull envies hear a lot for that at this moment. The others first years are stealing glances at each other, turning their head here and there trying to guess who's the one who was called.

Skull starts walking forward because he can't exactly just stay there forever. He doesn't know what is worse, the gasps—and not the good ones type—or the people who jump away from him. His courage takes him only so far as the three little steps he has to climb to reach the stool.

He freezes there, a fistful of his robe in each hand, very aware of all the eyes on him. The old man with the white long beard clinks his glass three times, which is weird because _no one is talking_ , and doesn't even say anything afterwards, just looks at them all slowly.

When he stops on Skull he nods once, not quite smiling at him. Skull averts his eyes and finds Minerva's, who _is_ smiling at him, a little thing he suspects only him can see.

Skull makes his way to the stool and the Sorting Hat is put on his head. It's hard not to flinch a little when it starts talking. "Skull De Mort," it drawls out. "Interesting name you have there, but are you sure? It won't do you any good in the magical world."

Skull keeps his voice as low as possible. "Why?"

"A wizard once chose a new name for himself quite similar as your last name. He became one of the most known wizards in all the magical world since then. Perhaps you already heard about You-Know-Who?"

Skull's jaws drops and his eyes widen. Say _what_ now? The _Babies Attacker_? No way, it can't be because then it means—it means… What _does_ it mean?

The hat has the gall to sound amused. "Yes, I imagine it is quite the shock to learn. It is not of my resort however. Shall we focus on finding which house you belong the most?"

Skull has _a lot_ of questions he'd like the answers of preferably _right now_. He has the mind of just standing up and lets everyone know he has nothing to do with the Babies Attacker, _of course_ he doesn't, but he stood out enough as it is, as usual. He shifts a bit on the stool. "I want Slytherin."

"Are you sure?" The hat says again. "You're certainly a resourceful boy, but a muggle born Slytherin is quite the rare sight around here." Skull fists his hands again where he had them flat on his thighs. He wants to reach to Oodako for comfort but it's really not the good time for that. Looks like he won't be too welcomed in this school either. "Gryffindor would suit you more, you have no claim disregarding your fears and a stubborn mind too. Or perhaps Hufflepuff? I see a gentle heart, and a strong desire for friends you could stand by with and who'll stand by you. Let me see…"

It looks like he won't be too welcome in this school either, but someone _did_ welcome him already, didn't he? And he found a friend too already. And Skull _does_ think friends should stand by each other against everything. "I want Slytherin," he says again.

"No, I think I make up my mind. You, Skull De Mort, is a—"

"Do you know I have an octopus?" Skull is relieved when the hat stops talking. He sits straighter, holds his head high. "Her name's Oodako, and I can make her grow in size. I didn't try yet but I'm sure I could make her _really_ big. Do you know what Oodako eats?" The hat stays silent, and he stays silent just a second too long. "She eats octopus' food, of course. But she likes to play a lot, and she's a rough player. A lot of my clothes ended up all torn up." He takes a moment to smile at the memories, then tries to peer up at the hat. His smile gets sweeter. "Can you feel pain, mister Hat?"

"Slytherin!" The hat screams, and Skull jumps to his feet grinning ear to ear. Minerva has to start clapping herself, then some others teachers in his back before the others students start doing it.

He skips to the Slytherin's table, straight to Reborn. There's an awkward moment between them when he reaches him, but then Reborn scoots away and Skull eagerly sits beside him.

"Your last name is 'De Mort'?" Reborn whispers right in his ear, because the others students around them are doing a bad job pretending they're not staring.

"Yeah. It's french." Reborn stares at him too, and this time Skull reaches to Oodako through his clothes. "Is it bad?"

Reborn twirls one of his curly sideburn around his finger. He draws back, smirking. "No, it isn't. I don't care." He shoves him playfully with his shoulder. "What did you say to the hat? Maybe you _are_ a little bit of a Slytherin."

Skull laughs, his heart light, and shoves Reborn back.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Fon doesn't care much about the Hogwarts' Houses. He knows about them, _knew_ about them long before stepping a foot in the castle—his siblings and him were really thorough in their researches since it was decided Fon would go at Hogwarts.

He knew beforehand how important they are for most of Hogwarts' students, but it's another thing to experience it for himself. The nervousness and anxiousness around him catch up to him too in such a way it likes he actually cares.

It's clear he underestimated the favoritism going on between the houses too, when some students shame some first years loudly for the house they're sorted in, despite the teachers' presence—who don't react at all he notices. Fon tries to put a face on those students, so he can stay clear from them in the future.

Another student is called, heavy silence falls on the Great Hall, and maybe Fon takes more time than he should have to understand why. But of course, this student's last name, "De Mort"—it sounds too much like The Dark Lord's name for anyone's comfort.

Not Fon's though. He didn't leave such a lingering presence back in China, and Fon even said His name aloud a couple of times. Of course parents still teach His story to their children, but apparently not in the same way. Fon doesn't feel the deep fear in him he can feel all around him at the moment. His parents wouldn't let him have a deep fear of anything to begin with.

Still, it's an unfortunate name to have, "De Mort". Fon knows some French thanks to Xiào, and it sounds a bit ominous to his ears.

Imagine his surprise when it turns out its _Skull_ 's last name.

Imagine his surprise when Skull gets sorted in _Slytherin_.

Fon almost laughs out loud. The boy is full of surprises, completely unpredictable. It's a trait he wishes he could have.

When his name is called, the atmosphere is a bit more convivial and warm once again. He makes his way to the Sorting Hat, just another first year about to get sorted. He sees no recognition in anyone eyes, let alone expectations, and he has to stop himself from smiling. He could get used to that.

"Another one with a heavy burden on young shoulders, I see." Fon's rebuttals almost tumble out of his lips on reflex right there and then. It's second nature by then, to plant his feet firmly on the floor no matter how shaky they are, to keep his spine straight and— _No I'm fine, I can take it. I can take everything, please just let me try again._ ** _Please_** _, Kyoya doesn't need to_ —He bites the inside of his cheek. "You're struggling against it, always have, like a true Gryffindor. I see more however."

 _More_. What a strange concept, to think he could be anything else than what his parents want him to be, what his siblings need him to be.

Fon doesn't care about the houses, doesn't mind being in any of them, but he's well aware he is the only one. Gryffindor is where everyone expects him to be sorted in, even when both the Hibari and Lóng family always have had a healthy dose of Slytherin in them. It's still their Gryffindor traits that matter more when it matters the most, one of the rare things Fon could always love fully about his family.

"You're a hardworking one, who works even harder when it's for another benefits. A lot of kindness in you too, yes. It's clear now which house you belong too, wouldn't you say?" Fon sways his feet back and forth, following their movements with his eyes. He sees Litchi peeking his head from his pocket and discreetly scratches him with his index finger.

Fon doesn't care about the houses because it's not like he has any say to the matter at all. But if someone were to _ask_ him—"I think I want to be in Slytherin."

"Slytherin?" The hat ponders. "Curious choice." Fon smiles a little. It's certainly not a choice he saw coming either. But he knows why. He's going to hear about the train incident long and hard if Chūn doesn't intercept the letter first, but it's the most fun he has had with someone outside his family.

"I don't care," he says, his voice more sure. "I'll be fine, you don't have to worry."

The hat makes a noise like a laugh. "Why a hat like me would have anything to worry about? But perhaps you're the one who need reassurance. I am the best at what I do, boy."

"Me too." Fon freezes, surprised by his own words. He is being impolite, but he doesn't want to apologize. Besides, he wasn't taught how to back down. "I'm really good with my hands you know, and they're really strong. Can you see that too? They're really, _really_ strong." He grips the hat's brim, like he wants to adjust it, and _squeezes_. "I know hats don't have bones but I'm sure I can break you anyway."

Fon lets go like nothing happened and fights hard against the smile that want to spread on his face. He's not at Hogwarts to enjoy himself, that much he knows. He's not meant to find friends who'd only distract him or slow him down either.

But… his parents are nowhere to be seen.

Fon wants to make himself some good memories, to be just a child like everyone else. He doesn't think he'll have any better opportunity to do that than Hogwarts.

"Slytherin!"

What happens at Hogwarts stays at Hogwarts. If he's smart enough—and he is—he can leave the worst of it from his parents.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Lal is a nervous wreck, and she blames herself for that. There isn't even anything to be nervous about. So yes, maybe she has a favorite house herself she'd like to be sorted in, but she'll be fine with any of the four houses.

She'll be fine with anything that could ever happen while she's at Hogwarts. It won't ever be worse than being stuck at home all year long.

Lal wouldn't even be nervous if it wasn't for her parents' nagging and insistence, and she's angry with herself for that. She has to stop caring at some point, or at least learn to care only as little as they care about her.

So what if they want her to be a Hufflepuff like them? What if they _don't_ want her to be a Slytherin because of some personal grudges they think she still doesn't know about, but she guessed all on her own? What if they'd be _so_ proud and happy if she ends up a Gryffindor like both of them wish they could have been themselves?

Lal wants to end up a Ravenclaw just out of spite. She doesn't stop chewing on her bottom lip.

The sorting starts, and goes well for the most part until it's Skull's turn. She has to stop herself from rolling her eyes hard when his name is called. She's surprised too, and reeled a bit, but it's not like he chose his last name, no one can. It's not like anyone can choose the family they're born in.

Most importantly, Skull looks everything but scary, so she has to wonder what's the deal of the students who jump away from him. Skull is sorted in Slytherin of all houses, _grins_ like it's the best thing which could have happened, and almost _runs_ towards the table.

Lal blinks, a bit dumbfounded. Being in Slytherin won't exactly help his case, doesn't he know that? Does he?

Lal catches herself thinking how brave he is—braver than her—and being strangely comforted by his attitude. Sometimes she doesn't understand herself.

She lets her lip go at some point, still very much nervous but at least her scar doesn't entertain anybody anymore. It's hard not to try to cover it with her hair, but she refuses to give in. She glares instead at the people who stare, and is disappointed with herself for that. That's not how she'll make herself some friends.

Her last thought before her name is called is that it has to be the worst first day of all the first days in history.

"Lal Mirch."

Lal takes a moment to put herself back together. She keeps her eyes on professor McGonagall because it makes it easier, until she reaches the stool. She takes a deep breath before sitting on it.

"Don't say anything," she says quickly when the hat touches her hair. "I haven't decided yet."

The hat stays silent a beat too long, and she thinks maybe it doesn't actually speak to them. "This is not how this works."

"I haven't decided yet," she stresses.

"Perhaps—"

"I'm _thinking_."

The hat shuts his mouth and Lal relaxes a bit. She puts her hands in between her thighs and try not to fidget too much.

She really wouldn't mind being in any of the four houses, she wouldn't. But some houses would make her more happy than others, and most importantly, some houses would make her parents less disappointed.

Lal doesn't want to think about them, but she wants to keep at minimum how they'll impact her happiness at her sorting with their comments. Maybe she should just really go in Ravenclaw and makes none of them happy.

She immediately strikes out this option from her list. Hogwarts is supposed to be _all about her_ , all about what she wants and likes and what makes her happy.

Except when it comes to which houses she wants to be in, she just really doesn't know what to do.

The hat hums pointedly and Lal scowls before wilting. "Just don't make me a Hufflepuff." That much she knows about what she wants, at the very least.

"You could be one," the hat says. "It's a mistake to judge a House by how some of its people act, you know that girl?" She _does_ know that, thank you very much. She had this conversation multiples times with aunt Nan'. Her parents are still the only Hufflepuff she really knows, and it didn't make her want to be one too. "You could even be a Ravenclaw if you really wish to be."

Lal frowns at that. "Do you mean I could be in any of the houses?"

"You people are complex beings, it wouldn't have been effective to try to match the houses with your level of complexity. That's why I'm here, to tell you where you'd fit _the most_. Whoever you choose to be after that isn't any of my concern."

Lal feels something drained from her at the words. Her leg stops bouncing and altogether she feels… relieved. She steels herself. "Where I fit the most?"

"I think you know already, don't you?" Lal stops herself from getting angry. She's _asking_ it, isn't she? "Plenty of potential for leadership as well as a strong desire to prove your worth. Always putting yourself as your first priority, yes, of course, you can only be a—" she holds her breath—"Slytherin!"

When her eyes find her three—what should she even call them?— _accomplices_ clapping for her too, something suspiciously feeling like excitement and happiness bloom in her chest. If she's being honest with herself meeting these insane people was the less worse thing that happened to her that day.

But Lal always liked to lie to herself, so she doesn't let the smile on her face grows too big.

  
  


* * *

  
  


The robe's hood is too short for their taste but the spell for it is one they learned long ago. They don't think he won't be allowed to keep it that way, don't see _why_ they couldn't have a longer hood if they'd like it better that way, but they're still on the lookout. So far so good, if not for the looks Viper expected, but thankfully no remarks from the teachers.

Viper could do without this whole sorting business honestly. They're _tired_ , and the faster they go to sleep the better. There's not even any suspense when it comes to them, so the restless energy all around is just annoying.

They're going to be in Slytherin— _of course you're gonna be in Slytherin sweetie, where else? It's where all the true pure blood_ _s_ _are_. The Mallory aren't even pure blood, not anymore anyway. Viper studied the family tree, with the help of family members who don't care about their status and books they could trust their family kept their hands away from.

And even if they really are pure blood it'll stop with Viper. They will _not_ marry any family members, close or distant, not a chance—they don't even know if they want to get married yet.

Reborn is sorted in Slytherin, which is unfortunate but not surprising. Viper trusts Slytherin's quarters are big enough they won't even have to ignore him because they just won't meet each other. The castle at least is certainly big enough.

 _Skull_ is sorted in Slytherin, and they honestly can't see _how_. But then again they literally only met today, and they're not the one who can use legilimency. It's problematic, but if they're lucky the two of them will keep each other busy and won't spare a thought for them.

Fon is sorted in Slytherin and Viper starts worrying a bit. It looks like the world is trying to tell them something, and they'd always been careful to listen. If they're being fair Fon didn't exactly do anything, but if he's anything like his sister…

Lal is sorted in Slytherin and—they like Lal, really. Maybe she'll even manage to strangle Reborn in a dark corner of the castle at some point, and Viper could cover her. But they just can see all the way these particular people stuck in the same house can go wrong. It spells troubles, which they really can do without.

Viper will not be in Slytherin if they have any say to it. If _only_ they could have anything to say to it.

They drag their feet when their name is called. Fantasma flops down and dives in one of their pockets. McGonagall steps fully in front of them so they can lower their hood, which they're grateful for.

The Sorting Hat doesn't say anything and Viper frowns. "What's wrong?"

The hat huffs. "You're hesitating. I thought perhaps you have something you'd like to say."

Viper perks up. The hat sounds upset for some reason but it's not important right now. "I can do that? That's great! Listen—"

"No, I wasn't—"

"No, too late, _listen_ ," they hiss and the hat stops talking. "Don't put me in Slytherin. Any other house is fine but I _don't want_ Slytherin." Reborn is one thing and is almost too much on his own already, but Reborn and the happy bunch he gained himself? They think not.

The hat grumbles something before speaking clearly. "I do not think it will please your family."

"My family isn't here." Besides, they wouldn't be the first to not be a Slytherin. They won't talk about these specific family members anymore, and when they do it's not in kind terms, but as far as they're concerned they're the lucky ones. Viper wants to get away from the Mallory family one day too.

"It might happen faster than you think, with what you intend to do." Viper rolls their eyes. Her parents wouldn't do that to them. They'll be angry, but they wouldn't go that far. They wouldn't.

"Are you sure?" The hat says, and it doesn't sound much like a question. "Your family's gift—it's much stronger in you than it have been in any other who sat on this stool from some time now. Surely there's a lot of expectations on your shoulders."

Viper winces, then digs their nails in their palms. They shouldn't have to wince. It's _their_ power, they can do whatever they want with it. They can choose to _not_ do anything with it if they want. They should be able to.

"Perhaps—"

"No. _No_ ," they stress when they feel the hat ready to fight back. They roll their shoulders once. "Did anyone of my family ever use our power on you? Not many people know about it, maybe they won't know how to heal it? Maybe we can find out _really soon_ thanks to me."

Viper wants to do the most of Hogwarts, mostly just forgets about everything else that isn't learning about magic and having good grades and—no, not that, no need. They want to be _good_ while they're at Hogwarts too because his parents won't think twice before calling them back home. And then what?

They won't bear to be home schooled. It's not a fight they think they'll win in six years, let alone right about now.

"You're lying to yourself, but very well." Viper bites his lip. They're fine all on their own, they always have been. They'll keep doing just fine even now, _especially_ now. "Ravenclaw!"

So what if Viper will be the main target at the next big family dinner? And they won't stop hearing about it from their parents? It's nothing they can't handle.

Besides, there are worse things in life that can happen.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Hermione Granger is one clever girl.

Verde can't help himself make a comment when he hears her talk about the fake ceiling above their heads. She turns her head so fast towards him, he thinks for a second he hurt her without meaning to.

As it turns out, _Hogwarts: A History_ is a book they both read from beginning to end—one among many others. They bounce back from one chapter to another, Hermione more interested in how the school came to be and its history, while Verde is more enthusiastic about the things still relevant to the present day.

She doesn't understand why there isn't more people who read the book, especially muggles, which he agrees on. He doesn't understand why there aren't more wizards and witches interested in the school they'll spend six years in, which she agrees on.

Verde is proud to say he almost makes her forget her worries about the sorting. Their conversation keeps going back to it, which is understandable. Verde didn't personally spend much time on the chapter about the Hogwarts' Four Houses.

Maybe it was a mistake.

They're much more important than he would have ever thought. Aren't they just where they'll be sleeping? Professor McGonagall talked about some sort of competition, but he doesn't think it's that.

People are playing favorite too, students like teachers, and he doesn't like the fact. Among all the things he worried about, the house he could be sorted in wasn't one of them.

Maybe it should have been.

Hermione is sorted in Gryffindor, and he makes sure to smile back at her. There's still a tiny disappointed feeling in him he tries to fight against. Verde isn't going to be a Gryffindor, that much he knows. Hermione squeezed her arm when her name was called and said they'd talk again, and he holds on to that.

Verde is more than a bit surprised about his acquaintances' sorting. Some of them he'd guessed, but some of them he could have _never_ guessed. _They cheated_ , he thinks immediately before mentally scolding himself. How could they even have done it? It's more likely he just didn't understand the differences between the houses as much as he thought he did.

He always has been a sore loser, like his father likes to remind him.

Someone slides beside him, shakes his shoulder. Verde blinks up at Colonnello.

"The professor called you." Verde turns his eyes on professor McGonagall who _does_ seem like she's waiting for someone. Everyone around him looks like that.

He blushes, adjusts his hair so they can better hide his face. "Thank you." He sees Colonnello holding back a smile from the corner of his eyes but ignore it. His cheeks are still warm when the hat is put on his head.

The hat chuckles. "You, boy, is a Ravenclaw if I ever saw one. And trust me, I saw plenty of them."

"How do you know?"

The hat chuckles a bit more. "Oh I know. This is the unique purpose I was made for."

"You're reading our thoughts."

"You can say that."

"It's illegal," Verde says firmly. Then he frowns. "For us muggles anyway. It's called privacy, doesn't the magical world have that?"

"Who do you think I'm going to tell?"

"How do I know you won't tell anyone?"

"Someone isn't happy about his sorting, I see," the hat says, sounding almost… worried? "But you can't stay sat here forever."

Verde swings his leg back and forth. "I'm not _not_ happy about it."

It's not a surprise the hat wants to put him in Ravenclaw. Verde himself thinks it's the house that sounds the more like him. Smart and creative and original and all the others things.

He was more than a bit excited when he learned about it. A _whole house_ like him. A whole house of _people_ like him. His excitement died down as quickly.

It's still three whole houses _not_ like him.

Verde doesn't mind being smart, smarter than average. He prides himself in how clever he is, even if some days it's harder to do so than others. He's been smart all his life, so he knows people become annoyed instead of admiring in front of too much intellect. They become jealous too, not like they tell Verde that, but they don't have too.

Verde isn't just smart too, but it's the only thing people see. It's the only thing they decide quickly he can be. Hogwarts is supposed to be a new chance for him, and he'd rather not have this type of target put on his back before he can even do anything.

"And so you'd feel better being in Hufflepuff?" The hat's voice is neutral, but Verde feels strangely scolded anyway. Or maybe he's the one scolding himself. But Hufflepuff is the friendly house, isn't it? The house full of nice people. Kind people.

He doesn't understand why it isn't more popular because it's everything he'd ever wanted.

"And what then? Will you hide your thirst for knowledge forever? Prevent your mind to grow like it should? It'd be quite the loss for the magical world." Verde can't help himself brightening a little. That's right, he has plans for his future in the magical world. He should not let himself get distracted.

"But you're sure, right? Can you be wrong?"

The hat exhales slowly. "You think too much boy." Verde holds back a sigh. People are _supposed_ to be thinking. "There's nice and kind people everywhere, no need to worry. You'll fit right in in Ravenclaw."

"How do you know?"

"Oh I know. It's what I do."

Verde holds on to these words while making his way to his table.

  
  


* * *

  
  


This is both exactly like he imagined and _so much better_. The lift in the boat across the lake, the castle, the Great Hall, the Sorting Hat— _everything_.

Colonnello just barley manages to stay calm. As calm as he can anyway, which means he can't stay put for a second or stop moving for the life of him.

He gets looks for it and ignore them. This is it, his big moment. Or at least this will be. Professor McGonagall couldn't call his name soon enough.

He bumps against someone when he tries to get closer and immediately apologizes.

"It's fine." Colonnello does a double take when the girl doesn't even look his way. Her eyes keep flickering between her feet and whoever is being sorted. Something moves in her pocket, then peeks its head from it, and he's not sure how to react when he recognizes a squirrel.

He focuses back on the girl instead, nudges her a bit, but she just steps away, keeps her head down.

Colonnello ducks his head low, right under her nose. "Hi." The girl startles badly and slaps her hands on her mouth. A blush spreads on her cheeks when he tries to hide his smile with his hand.

His laugh slips past his defenses anyway. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to scare you. Are you okay?"

The girl brings her low ponytail above his shoulder to play with it. "I'm fine, you just surprised me."

"You look scared."

She shakes her head firmly, the short black hair framing her face getting in her eyes. "I'm just nervous. You—" she drawls out the word, hesitating—"don't look scared at all."

Colonnello gives her two thumbs up. "Everyone I know always say I can only end up as a Gryffindor, so I'm not too worried. What about you?"

The girl frowns and looks down again. He puts an arm around her shoulders when she doesn't answer. He immediately takes it off. "Sorry! Is that OK? I'm sorry, I just do that a lot."

Colonnello is the one blushing when she giggles at him. "It's fine, I don't mind."

"You say that a lot." Her smile disappears, but he coaxes it back by keeping his own smile firmly in place. He puts back his arm around her shoulders.

"It doesn't matter which house you'll be in you know? All four houses are great in their own way."

"You think?"

He shrugs. "That's what my mom says anyway." And she says it _a lot_. Colonnello always has been so adamant about being a Gryffindor since as long as he can remember, his parents got worried he'll be too disappointed if he ends up in another house. He's still going to be disappointed if he ends up in, let's say, _Slytherin_ , but he promised he'll try to think about their words if it happens.

"But you have a favorite?"

"You'll never guess which one." The girl muffles her laugh with her hand, and he joins her in her laughter. "What about you?"

She hums low and long, looking a less lot tense than before. Colonnello congratulates himself for it. "Gryffindor is a good house, I guess."

"What is your less favorite house then?"

"I can't say." Colonnello frowns, and she looks up at him with a secretive smile. "It'll bring me bad luck."

"What?" He slaps his mouth shut too late, but his loud voice already attracted the attention of the surrounding students. They huddle closer together, and Colonnello lowers his voice. "These kinds of stuff are all fake, you don't know?"

"Not at all, it really works."

"You're being silly."

The girl looks him straight in the eyes and points a finger at him. "No, you're being silly."

He pokes her cheek. "No, you."

She does the same. "No, you."

"No, _you_. Silly, silly, silly, si—" She pushes him away towards another student, with more force than he would have thought, and he just laughs. He makes a face at her when he finds back his footing, and she gives him her biggest smile yet.

"Verde Rivera."

Colonnello's attention shifts immediately. He turns towards the Sorting Hat, not wanting to miss Verde's sorting. He didn't miss any of the others' before him.

No one walks away from their little group of first years. He frowns, then tries to spot green hair in the crowd. Thankfully there aren't much of them left, or many other people with green hair. Verde just stands there a few feet ahead of him, looking towards professor McGonagall but it's like he isn't seeing anything.

He doesn't look like he heard the professor called him.

Colonnello rolls his eyes and make his way over to him. He thinks the blush on Verde's cheeks is a well-deserved reward for a good deed done.

Someone tugs on his robe. He is pleased to see his new friend meeting his eyes when he turns to her.

"I forgot to introduce myself. My name's Luce."

"I'm Colonnello, nice to meet you! Your little flower is really pretty you know. What is it?"

Luce gapes, and he quickly repeats his words in his head to guess what it is he said. She grazes over the orange flower under her left cheek and makes a weird face. But then she smiles. "Thank you."

Colonnello is too relieved to ask any question. He smiles back, and they fall in a comfortable silence.

Verde is sorted in Ravenclaw, which maybe disappoints him a bit. Four Slytherin and two Ravenclaw. Maybe he is a little bit jealous too. He wouldn't have minded being in the same house as any of them—his parents couldn't have accused him of anything—, but it isn't happening anymore.

Luce's name is called, and she hides really well her nervousness. She's sorted in Hufflepuff. Colonnello has no idea if it's the house she wanted, but the happiness on her face looks genuine enough. He gives her two thumbs up when she finds her eyes.

"Colonnello Sparks."

Colonnello adjusts his headband a bit, slaps his cheek. This is it, _for real_. Like, it's happening _right now_. And suddenly he isn't sure he wants to do it anymore.

Colonnello pushes through his own feelings, berating himself. There's nothing to worry about, he knows exactly the house he'll be in. He still takes a deep breath before professor McGonagall puts the hat on his head.

"Please say Gryffindor," he whispers to it quickly. "Please, please, say Gryffindor."

"You're certainly an easy one, boy." Colonnello chooses to hear it as a good sign. "Gryffindor you say? Let's see, a lot of courage and determination. A daring one too, perhaps too daring, but it's a common trait in the house you wish for. Yes indeed, I can see it." He holds his breath. "Gryffindor!"

Colonnello _bolts_ upright. He doesn't scream but punches the air and maybe even jumps a little. Among the clapping he hears the laughters too but it only makes him smile wider.

 _Gryffindor_! Harry's and Ron's house! And _his_ house too now!

He would have run towards his table with the hat still on if not for professor McGonagall. He gives her a sheepish smile, then take the opportunity to glance at the three others table.

There's still a bit of disappointment but really, it's not such of a big deal. They're stuck together in the same castle for a year. There's plenty of time for them to get to know each other, even separated in the different houses as they are now.

Colonnello won't let such a thing stop him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- for a hot second i thought they were all going to make it so they'd end up in slytherin. can you imagine? it's happening in an another universe and i don't think it's happening quietly lol  
> \- i wanted to put Luce in gryffindor first, but i wanted the arcobaleno to be in all four houses so i compromise with her
> 
> I feel like the hogwarts' houses is one of this topic where no one can really be wrong about their opinions you know? So I don't know how much you agree with my sorting but like, please don't attack me because of it :').
> 
> Did the chapter felt too imformative? I'm sorry if it did but apparently I have some hp's headcanons and these little guys have backstories, who would have know? (honestly not me lmao)
> 
> The plot is slow to kick in, I know, but I just want to introduce you to these guys properly. We should get things started on the chapter after the next one (if nothing changes in between). In the meantime Luce is there!!! Not her pov yet, but at least she's introduced.
> 
> (Also, I published a new fic about the Varia. It's _not_ a fully fledged written fic, but if you'd be so kind as to give it a chance anyway, it's rigth over there -> [The Nuances of a Wrathful Sky](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23860609/chapters/57351031) )
> 
> Thank you for your kudos and comments. I hope you liked this new chapter. Any and all review are appreciated. Thank you for reading!
> 
> w_h


	4. First Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hogwarts' rules can't stop them because the Arcobaleno can't read. (To everyone else misfortune.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, a couple of things first.
> 
> Now that i've decided i'll only cover the first hp book/movie with this fic, and that i have a more precise idea of where i want to go with it, i changed both the title and summary of this fic.
> 
> Remember how i said you won't see much of my made up names in the last chapter? It's because i forgot people were calling each other by their last name at Hogwarts, so it was a lie lol. I'm going to use them often enough i suppose, in this chapter at least.
> 
> I'm using the different pov a bit differently for this chapter, and some come back more than once, i hope it won't be confusing.
> 
> Finally, this will not be a snape-friendly fic. I'm sorry to not have tagged it sooner because really, it was never going to be one.
> 
> That's it, enjoy!

Professor Snape’s office is not welcoming at all. There isn’t enough lit candles at all, and no fire in the fireplace near the desk. Fon doesn’t want to know what is in all the jars on the shelves against the walls either.  
  
Fon doesn’t even _want_ to be there, didn’t intend to end up there anytime soon—or ever. He supposes it’s his fault for having broken the rules.  
  
He takes one of the four seats in front of the desk, alongside Skull, Reborn and Lal.  
  
“I assume you all know why you’re here.” None of them say anything, and none of them avert their eyes from professor Snape’s own. He is resting his chin on his intertwined fingers, elbows on his desk, looking bored and judging and displeased somehow all at once. “Don’t you? Because it certainly looks to me you’re doing your hardest to be… _noticed_.”  
  
Professor Snape looks at each of them in turn, from Lal and Skull and Reborn to him. He keeps his eyes on him, and Fon’s covers his bright red jumper with his robe as best he can.  
  
“This is quite the trend you started, mister Lóng.”  
  
“It was an accident.”  
  
The professor’s expression doesn’t change at all, but he manages somehow to still look unimpressed. “Yes, it’s what you said to professor Flitwick the first time, who then turned your jumper back to its normal color. It’s what you kept saying to him the fourth other times too.”  
  
“I’m really clumsy.” The professor narrows his eyes just a tad, and Fon attempts a sheepish smile.  
  
He _likes_ red, alright. It’s his lucky charm color, he needs to always have some red on him or else it just doesn’t feel right.  
  
Besides, the Hogwarts’ uniforms can use some more colors. Overwhelming black with a bit of green and silver is… _fine_ , he guesses, but they could have done better.  
  
“Don’t you know red is quite ill-advised for Slytherins? You could at least have chosen something—” he considers his jumper for a second, and his lips curl in distaste “— _less_ bright.”  
  
Fon looks down in turn, considering too. He looks back up. “How… _less_ … bright?”  
  
Skull snorts, and the professor’s eyes snap back to him.  
  


* * *

  
  
“Mister Rivera, how should I say it?” Verde lets professor Flitwick finds his words. It’s hard to keep his focus on him though, what with the portraits hang on the wall behind him, and on all the other walls. Verde still isn’t used to them. “You already demonstrated immense potential in such a short time, I’m a bit saddened you’d choose to use it like that.”  
  
“It doesn’t hurt anyone.” If he is honest with himself, Verde feels proud of what he succeeded to do. Which isn’t outsmarting professor Flitwick, because they didn’t—they cheated—, but merging both wizards’ magic and Viper’s psychic powers in a stable charm which has still to be undone… It has to be impressive for a muggle like him who is novice in everything.  
  
“Doesn’t it? I’m sure you noticed the sudden surge of colorful uniforms in our hallways. Of really _flashy_ uniforms in our hallways. From head to toes, in case of some students.” Viper huffs from the chair next to his, the first sound they made since they came in the office.  
  
Verde has to agree to the sentiment. It’s hard to miss the new students having fun with their uniforms after all. It hurts his eyes sometimes too, but again, he fails to see where is the problem.  
  
Verde is more interested to know who between Fon and Viper spread their new charm among the other students. He knows it wasn’t him.  
  
“Do you understand then?” the professor asks, playing with his mustache. “You have these standard uniforms for a reason after all.”  
  
“Which reason?” Viper asks. Verde thinks it’s more them trying to get themselves out of trouble in case they end up linked to the whole accident, than them trying to help him.  
  
“Oh, well, you know. To give you all a sense of unity for one, of comradeship.”  
  
“There’s still our ties for that,” Verde says, “no one is changing them. And our scarfs. And we’re still wearing the same uniform, it’s just the colors which are different.”  
  
Professor Flitwick gives him a kind smile. “Very good points, mister Rivera. And I understand you wanted to help your friend, but it isn’t just about that.” His hand falls from his mustache and finds his desk once more. “You see, well, how should I say it?”  
  
Verde makes himself comfortable and waits for the professor to find his words. He tries not to let his eyes wander too much, especially to the sleeping quarters on his left. Viper is blocking his view anyway, but he wouldn’t want to intrude.  
  
“How should I say it indeed…” the professor says again, looking somewhere between the both of them, not quite looking down but not looking up either.  
  
Viper and him wait for him in silence. And wait. And wait some more.  
  
He turns to Viper just in time to see their lips twitch, in what he’s pretty sure is a contained smile.  
  


* * *

  
  
“And _what_ , exactly, is so funny to you, mister De Mort?”  
  
At this precise moment, with professor Snape looking at him like _that_ and speaking to him like _that_ , Skull doesn’t find anything funny at all. “Nothing, Sir.” He tries to guess if it was the right answer to give, but hell if he got any better at that. He’s sure by now professor Snape can only express the bad stuff.  
  
“Were you perhaps worried I would not spare time for your own recent achievements then?” Skull opens his mouth, feeling like it’s his turn again to say something. Except he’s lying and he doesn’t know at all if he is to speak up, so he closes it. Professor Snape raises an eyebrow. “Not so proud anymore, I see. Do you finally realize all the disturbances you caused?”  
  
“ _I_ caused disturbances?” Skull cries out, because he absolutely did that, but in self-defense! “What about the others? Do you know the disturbances _they_ did to me?” He slides to the edge of his chair. “They cast spells at me, and at my stuff. And they always talk bad about me, always shove me around and make me fall and lie to the professors so I’d be punished. Spells,” he stresses, because the professor doesn’t react at all. He throws his hands up in the air in the universal isn’t-it-obvious gesture. “ _Spells!”_  
  
Professor Snape raises both of his eyebrows this time, and Skull gets angry.  
  
He’s angry since the others started bothering him, was _furious_ when it looked like they’d try to bother Fon and Reborn too to get to him, but he still tried first to reach to his house’s head. Only to be ignored.  
  
“Maybe if _you’d_ have done something—” Reborn kicks his shin hard, and he shuts his mouth. Professor Snape straightens up, adjusts his robe around him. Skull thinks no professor should look that scary to any of their students.  
  
“This was all really… enlightening, mister De Mort, but let’s focus back on yourself, shall we?”  
  
Skull is sure this time he shouldn’t speak but he doesn’t care anymore. He shrugs. “I could have done worse.” He scoots back in his chair, and smiles, too. He isn’t getting out of this office without being punished anyway.  
  
“You certainly promised that to a lot of them.”  
  
Skull’s smile grows wider. So it turned out pretty quickly he’s shit at magic, but Skull spend eleven years as a muggle, solving his problems the muggle way, and they’re just as efficient.  
  
He started a trend of his own, with the few other muggle Slytherins. Some are better at magic than him, which allowed them to do it both the magic and muggle way. Namely, among other things, a bucket full of mud on an ajar door, messing with their hygiene products and their food, scratching powder in their clothes, or turning their school’s furniture against them.  
  
The screams quickly became the best part of his day, as well as him being chased around because it meant he succeeded. Skull became the best at dodging spells if not deflecting them with his own magic.  
  
He can’t say the same for their common room, or the castle’s hallways, or some poor students who got in the way.  
  
“Yeah, but did you see Malfoy’s hair last week?”  
  
Lal chuckles, a quick thing she’s even more quick to swallow back, but it’s too late. Skull feels a bit bad when professor Snape shifts his focus on her.  
  


* * *

  
  
“Don’t you have anything to say for yourself, mister Sparks?”  
  
Colonnello blinks. “You didn’t say anything yet, professor.”  
  
“I was assuming you knew already why you’re here. The whole castle certainly took notice of it by now.”  
  
Colonnello shifts in his seat, and light from the window on his left shines in his eyes. He shifts back in his former position, the one not very comfortable. Professor McGonagall doesn’t offer any better seat arrangement. “You allowed Harry to get in the team.”  
  
“Under exceptional circumstances, seeing as mister Potter demonstrated exceptional talent. First years still aren’t allowed to play Quidditch.”  
  
“But we can’t demonstrate exceptional talent if you don’t give us a chance!”  
  
“Is this how this brilliant idea of yours was born, mister Sparks?”  
  
A nervous chuckle escapes Colonnello’s lips. Professor McGonagall is still looking at him from above her glasses, twirling her tea with her spoon, and he’s pretty sure she isn’t going to drink it.  
  
To be fair it wasn’t _only_ his idea, and they had very little to go by. There shouldn’t even have been an idea in the first place.  
  
As happy as he is for Harry who made his way in the team—and he really is—, it made it harder to accept that first years can’t play Quidditch. For Lal especially, who made an impressive stunt of her own, and saved Neville from any broken bones when he lost control of his broomstick.  
  
Then he talked about it with Ron, who thought they should show their skills directly to the players during their training hours. Then—and it was suspiciously right after he talked with Ron—more and more first years came to them to ask for more details.  
  
Then—well, they just thought their best chance was to recreate the circumstances under which Harry earned his place.  
  
His point being, it was a group effort.  
  
“It wasn’t that bad.” The professor clinks her spoon on her cup three times, then puts it down beside it. She intertwines her fingers on her stomach, her elbows on the armrests.  
  
“Wasn’t it?” Colonnello winces. There’s a reflect on her glasses, blocking her eyes from him and it’s a bit terrifying. Even more so when she reminds him of both his grandmothers, except they are never scary like that. “People got hurt. People could have _die_.”  
  
“They just got hurt a little,” he rushes to say. “Miss Pomfrey said they would all heal.”  
  
“All of you could have gotten hurt,” professor McGonagall ignores him. “ _Eleven_ _years old children_. Do you have anything to say to that?”  
  
This is a trap. Colonnello shuts his mouth, but the professor’s gaze weights down on him. He clears his throat. “I’m really glad nobody got hurt badly because of our idea, professor.”  
  
“Is that it?”  
  
He clears his throat again. “I’m really glad nobody got hurt badly because... of our… bad idea?”  
  
“Just bad?”  
  
“ _Really_ bad?”

Peeves bursts out laughing somewhere behind him and he startles.  
  


* * *

  
  
Lal doesn’t like her house’s head, and it’s an understatement. He makes her feel small, feels scared, and it isn’t feelings she wants to feel while being in Hogwarts.  
  
Professor Snape looks down on her, and she shrinks on herself. She pinches Skull’s thigh hard for her troubles.  
  
Professor Snape’s lips twitch but she is faster. “Harry was allowed in his team.”  
  
“Mister _Potter_ ”—Lal flinches, curling on herself, and by Merlin she has to make it so he never says her name like that—“is our new celebrity, and therefore finds perfectly reasonable that rules are bend for him. Are you, perhaps, a hidden Potter no one knew about, miss Mirch?”  
  
Lal keeps her eyes somewhere on the desk. “I just wanted to be given a chance.”  
  
“Then you could at least have been smarter about this. Surely the hat put you in Slytherin for a reason?”  
  
Lal looks up then, because they _did_ think about it as they didn’t want to hurt anyone, thank you very much. “We _were_ smart, professor. No one—”  
  
Professor’s Snape bends forward suddenly, his palms flat on his desk, and she has to lock up all the muscles in her body to not back down. “You, along all your little friends, enchanted the player’s broomsticks to fly madly in the air. It could have hit any of you present on the scene. Or any onlookers close enough. Was that _smart_ of you, miss Mirch?”  
  
“They were no one on the broomsticks. And we caught them all.”  
  
“And many of you fall to your death trying.”  
  
“No one died,” Lal immediately says, even if she knows what he’s doing. “And we caught them too.” Viper did anyway, when those flying weren’t fast enough. Viper, and anyone else who could too.  
  
“Did you?”  
  
“We thought about that too! We cast spells on the training grounds, it didn’t hurt them.”  
  
“Didn’t it?” the professor says again, his voice flat and biting again.  
  
“A little,” she begrudgingly admits, because some of them did fall too fast and from too high. But miss Pomfrey said they would all heal without problems. And in real Quidditch matches falling is a real risk too, isn’t it?  
  
Professor Snape’s draws back slowly, his eyes narrowed on her. Lal falters despite the hot fire in her belly and the words caught in her throat ready to free themselves from it. She looks down, her hair hiding her face, her nails biting the edge of her seat.

“If this is your definition of ‘smart’, miss Mirch, they maybe it’s time for you to open a dictionary.”  
  
Lal doesn’t look up this time. Flint wants her in the team, she repeats to herself. She’ll be punished, but once it’s done she can enter the team and he can’t stop her. Flint is the captain, he has to have the last word on it.  
  
Flint wants her in the team. She doesn’t want to let professor Snape makes her feel any less proud about it.  
  
Skull wiggles his hand under her left hand, and then she’s crushing his hand instead.  
  
Lal _hates_ her house’s head.  
  


* * *

  
  
“What were we talking about again?” professor Flitwick asks all of a sudden. He claps. “Ah yes, the dormitories.” They were definitely not talking about that, but it’s a safer subject for them so Viper doesn’t comment. Safer, but not pleasant. “Some students came to complain to me about your new sleeping arrangement. I’d like to hear your side of the story.”  
  
“Complain about what?” Viper says. “The house-elves clear everything away every morning.”  
  
The professor nods understandably. “Maybe so, but we have both early risers and late sleepers in Ravenclaw. They say you take unnecessary place in the common room.”  
  
Viper retreats in themselves. They knew it was a stupid idea, that’s why it wasn’t theirs. They were hovering beside Rowena Ravenclaw’s statue, then Verde was standing beside them, then they were just spilling it out.  
  
Next thing they knew, he was carrying down two mattresses and blankets with the help of other students for their first night at Hogwarts. And then more students and mattresses just started to show up. And kept showing up.  
  
Viper thanked him that first night, but a simple “thank you” didn’t cover what they felt at this moment.  
  
“What happened? Don’t you like the dorms?”  
  
“They’re just two of them,” Verde says when they stay silent.  
  
“What about it?”  
  
“For boys and girls.”  
  
“Well, yes. Where are you—” professor Flitwick blinks. Then he frowns. “Do you mean…?” He looks at them back and forth. “Aren’t you…”  
  
Viper stays silent. It’s in times like this they’re glad for their hood more than usual. Verde clears his throat but stays quiet too.

They shrug a few seconds later, once understanding it was meant for them.  
  
“Viper isn’t a boy,” Verde immediately says, “or a girl. They didn’t want to choose, so I helped them.”  
  
The professor needs a moment to process the words, but then he’s chuckling. “How very kind of you,” he says, making Verde blush. He turns toward them then, and they stiffen a bit. “In this case, I understand it would have been uncomfortable for you, mister Mallory. Oh, is ‘mister’ fine with you?”  
  
“It’s fine.”  
  
The professor nods. “Then I must say, as understandable as it is, your actions became quite popular nonetheless.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“Well mister Rivera, professor Sprout tells me all about how she’s facing the same dilemma with her house. _All_ about it,” he repeats, while winking at Verde. “I heard it started among the Gryffindors too. Does it surprise you that much, mister Mallory?”  
  
Viper snaps his mouth shut, feels their cheeks becoming warm, but it isn’t important.  
  
The other houses too? This is… unexpected. But this is more than welcome too. Viper needs to learn more about it, learn which students are involved.  
  
An enthusiastic energy builds up inside them, and they try not to fidget too much.  
  
Professor Flitwick’s sigh doesn’t help them with it, even if it doesn’t sound angry. “I still wish you could have come to me first, did none of you thought about it?” Verde and them exchange a glance, and let the silence speak for them. “You came up with a safe solution at least, but what were you planning to do on the long run? Build a third dormitory all on your own?” he chuckles.  
  
Verde bends forward, mouth open, and Viper kicks his foot. Is he serious? No, actually, is _the professor_ serious, giving him such an idea?  
  
They are not going to build a third dormitory on their own, and they can’t believe it’s a sentence they actually have to voice.  
  
Viper rolls their eyes, but there’s a smile pulling at their lips.  
  


* * *

  
  
“That leaves us with only you, mister Sinclair. You’re being quite the disappointment, I must say. Don’t you want to even try to not bring shame to your name?”  
  
Reborn stops himself from rolling his eyes. He knows when to try his chance and it isn’t one of those moments. Professor Snape’s leans against his chair, crosses his legs, and he still uncrosses his in an obvious gesture.  
  
“What do you mean, professor?”  
  
“What else, if not the unfortunate people you chose to affiliate yourself with, for starting? The people you chose _not_ to affiliate yourself with?”  
  
Reborn stops himself from rolling his eyes again. Malfoy just isn’t the type of person he wants to be friends with. Not like he saw himself become friends with the others, of course, but _did it pay off_. They’re not even a full month in Hogwarts and they did _so much_ already.  
  
Reborn regrets nothing.  
  
“I’m fine with them, professor. Is that why I’m here?”  
  
“You know exactly why you’re here mister Sinclair, do not play innocent with me.” Professor Snape purses his lips a brief moment before schooling his face back to its neutral expression of disinterest and judgment. “But very well, how about we start with all the recently lost students?”  
  
“What about them? Which students are we talking about? The castle is really big, I’m sure there have been a lot of them.”  
  
“We found them in secluded corners of the castle,” the professor continues smoothly, “in hallways students have no business using. We found them in the castle’s hidden passages, from which they didn’t know how to find their way out. They said someone led them there. _Trick_ them there, but of course you already know that.”  
  
Reborn tilts his head, a confused frown on his face. “Of course not, professor. How could I?”  
  
Professor Snape’s eyes snap to the others to cut short any unwanted reaction. They settle back on him once they’re once more as still and quiet as statues.  
  
“You’re known to wander around aimlessly in your free time, mister Sinclair. Or are you going to deny this too?”  
  
“The castle is really old, I’m just really curious about it.”  
  
“Are you’re ‘really curious’ about the ghosts too? Maybe your favorites are even the ones students are complaining about these days.”  
  
“They’re ghosts. Dead but still alive somehow. They’re really interesting.”  
  
“As interesting as our various paintings, I assume?”  
  
“They’re moving.”  
  
“What are you mister Sinclair, some muggle-born?”  
  
“The painting in my house aren’t there since centuries ago, professor. The ones at Hogwarts are full of knowledge.”  
  
“Knowledge,” professor Snape repeats, like he’s mocking the word. “And of course it’s all it is about.”  
  
Reborn just smiles. So he may have or may have not turned the castle into one big haunted house as a gift for the students who… upset him. Who is going to tell? With what proofs?  
  
Professor Snape’s lips twitch upwards for the briefest of second. He bends forwards, his elbows on the desk. He rests his chin on his intertwined fingers once more.  
  
“I’m certain you have an excuse for the library incident too, mister Sinclair. I’d like to hear it.”  
  
Reborn’s smile grows wider despite himself. The library incident was _amazing_.  
  


* * *

  
  
“Miss Giglio Nero, how are you?”  
  
“I’m fine professor, thank you.” Luce thought she would feel worse really, being called in her house’s head’s office like that. But the light from the high windows is shining right on them, and all the scented plants around the greenhouse help to make her feel better.  
  
“Good, good,” the professor nods. “Do you know why I called you here?”  
  
“Yes professor.”  
  
She waves her hand. “Ah, come now, don’t be afraid. I’m sure you had little to do with it, isn’t that right?” Luce shifts her eyes from professor Sprout’s cheekbone to her eyes. It earns her a smile, and she lets herself relax a bit. “I just want you to tell me what happened.”  
  
Luce steadies herself with a deep breath. “I was in the library. I needed some books to do my homework, Hermione and Verde too. We were trying to find the books we needed.”  
  
She smiles to herself. They got lost really fast—they were lost from the beginning really— but bravely kept walking from row to row.  
  
It was Hermione who took a book which caught her interest from the shelves to show it to them first. Then Verde, then her. It turned into a race at some point, of who would find the most interesting book on the most interesting subject, with little breaks as long as they needed to loom over a really interesting book which caught all of their interest.  
  
It was the first time she talked to the both of them.  
  
It was fun, until it wasn’t.  
  
“We came across a group of students working together around a table. Slytherins and Ravenclaws students, some of them were older too. They… noticed us.”  
  
They noticed Luce first, she thinks, her fingers touching her tattoo lightly. She didn’t expect to do well at Hogwarts, didn’t want to give herself false hopes, but she wished hard for just some indifference.  
  
She took to stay in the common room as much as she can.  
  
“What happened then?” professor Sprout spurs her on.  
  
Luce twirls a strand of her long braid around her finger, lets it loose, does it again. She doesn’t feel like going in the details. “They approached us. Started saying things to us, bad things. They got more and more angry the more we defended ourselves, and the noises attracted some other students.”  
  
“And what happened then?” Luce snorts, before covering her face with her hands, mortified. She peers up at the professor only to see her disapproving frown. “Nothing funny happened afterwards from what I’ve heard, miss Giglio Nero.”  
  
Luce feels terrible to disappoint her professor, but when she wants to lower her hands she just feels like she’ll burst out laughing.  
  
Professor Sprout’s voice sounds stern. “Miss Giglio Nero.”  
  
Luce bites the inside of her cheek to anchor herself. She lowers her hands. “Verde punched them.”  
  


* * *

  
  
Viper snorts for the third time in thirty seconds, and the hand covering their mouth doesn’t do anything. Professor Flitwick keeps his eyes on them a long time this time, before looking back at him.  
  
“It’s nothing,” Verde says before he can ask anything. “Nothing.”  
  
“I hope so, there’s nothing funny about a fight.” Viper has the sense to feel guilty at that, straightening themselves in their seat. “I’d like to hear what happened, mister Rivera.”  
  
“I was just defending my classmates professor. They took out their wands and tried to cast spells on us.”  
  
“I can understand that,” the professor says, nodding. “But still—” he smooths out his mustache pensively “—I didn’t take you as the fighting type.”  
  
Viper’s badly stifled laughter aren’t discreet at all, but Verde does his best to ignore them. He shrugs, a bit warm on the neck. “No one does.” He is the chubby type, and the glasses type, and the smart type after all. It works as an advantage for him.  
  
“They said you won.” Viper makes a weird, worrying noise, and they both stop to make sure they aren’t choking. “It’s impressive considering they were older students, weren’t they?” Verde shrugs again. “If I may ask, how…?”  
  
Viper bursts out laughing, startling the both of them. Verde blushes all the way to the tips of his ears. He should have never told them that.  
  
He looks down at his feet. “I rather don’t say.”  
  
When Viper falls from his chair because they’re laughing too hard, it’s only a smart comfort.  
  


* * *

  
  
“If you do not get out of my office right now Peeves, I’ll make sure to find a way for you to experience sensation again.” Colonnello winces at her glare, but Peeves only bows low at her, still laughing, before disappearing through the wall. The professor looks back at him. “You were saying? Something about mister Rivera ‘beating up’ students?”  
  
“He did!” Colonnello exclaims. “It was awesome. They were trying to use their wands but Hermione and Luce wouldn’t let them. And Verde just kept—”  
  
“Yes, I think I got the picture mister Sparks. What happened then?”  
  
Colonnello laughs sheepishly. “Right, yeah. Well the others students tried to make a run for it when they heard miss Pince coming. With their hoods on too to hide their face, you know?”  
  
“And you didn’t think with all the witnesses there it was useless no matter what?”  
  
“I—” Colonnello’s mouth stays open on words he doesn’t find “—didn’t.”  
  
Professor McGonagall taps an impatient rhythm against her second cup of tea. “And how, _exactly_ , did you went from there to destroying the library?”  
  
He bites his bottom lip. “We didn’t _destroy_ —”  
  
“ _Five_ shelves, mister Sparks. That could have fallen on students. It would have been more if not for miss Pince’s intervention.”  
  
“Actually, Reborn—”  
  
“Oh, so it was mister Sinclair’s idea?”  
  
“No! I mean, er, a bit?” He shakes his head. “No, listen professor, it was Peeves who first said—”  
  
“ _Peeves_.” Professor McGonagall stares at him unblinking, and he tries to stay as still as she is. Her brow twitches when laughter from outside the office reaches their ears. “Peeves is not to be trusted under any circumstances, I thought I was clear about that. But it certainly explains things.” She takes off her glasses slowly, and takes her time wiping the lenses without looking at him. She puts them back on. “Just tell me one last thing, mister Sparks. Do you understand the gravity of your actions?”  
  
Colonnello slumps in his chair, looking down, and it has nothing to do with the light blinding him this time. It could all have gone really badly, it’s obvious now they went over it all out loud. “Yes professor. I’m sorry.”  
  
“Good. Then you understand why I’m going to inform your parents of all that took place.” Colonnello snaps his eyes back up, but a simple look from professor McGonagall shuts him up. “You _do_ understand it, mister Sparks. Not only that, but miss Pince expects you this very night at the library to help her clean your mess, is that understood too?”  
  
He looks down again. “Yes professor,” he says begrudgingly.

Colonnello’s _so_ screwed. His parents won’t accept anything else than a letter from him every week after that, if not every day. They probably will ask his professors to send them letters too, and how embarrassing is that?  
  
“This night, and all the nights which will be needed.”  
  
“Yes professor.”  
  
“Good. Until next time then, mister Sparks.”  
  
Colonnello frowns in confusion at that, but professor McGonagall only sighs long and hard.  
  


* * *

  
  
“You insist you were only there as an innocent spectator then, mister Sinclair?”  
  
“They were a lot of other people attracted by the noises too, professor.”  
  
“I see”— professor Snape drawls out, pulling back —“there is no getting through your thick skulls. Very well.” He pulls parchments out from his drawer. “Perhaps your parents will be more lucky than me.”  
  
Reborn traps one of his curly sideburn between his fingers absentmindedly. He peers discreetly at the others, and as he thought they don’t take well to the parents being brought out. As far as he’s concerned he doesn’t mind, but…  
  
Reborn tries not to feel bad. There was no getting out of this from the beginning anyway.  
  
“I don’t… have parents?”  
  
Professor Snape’s finds Skull’s eyes, and it looks like it costs him. “Then I’ll write to whoever is in charge of you, mister De Mort.”  
  
“Oh. Right, of course. Right,” he laughs a bit, and both him and Professor Snape’s purse their lips for entirely different reason.  
  
“As for your detention, I would have taken care of it myself, but miss Pince insisted for you to help her clean the library. Starting this very night. It will be all.”  
  
Lal doesn’t need to be told twice, bolting from her chair and almost running for the door. The three of them exchange a glance before following her.  
  
It could have gone worse, Reborn thinks. It went exactly as he wanted it to really, and he hides his smile as best he can.  
  


* * *

  
  
Viper goes from hilarity to outrage so fast it almost gives them whiplash. Their robe is all ruffled after their short meeting with the floor, but they don’t even notice. “Detention?”  
  
Professor Flitwick blinks at them. “Of course mister Mallory, it’s the least you can do. It will be with miss Pince at the library, starting tonight.”  
  
“I didn’t do anything.”  
  
“I believe it’s part of the problem,” he says, looking contrite.  
  
“I _saved_ people.”  
  
“I wouldn’t say that.” Viper turns to Verde, who’s choosing the worst moment possible to get back at them. “You threw books at them.”  
  
They throw their arms in the air. “To get them out of the way of the falling shelves.”  
  
“They hit them in the head.”  
  
“I have good aim! I didn’t know you could have detention for that.”  
  
“Now, now, no fighting,” the professor interrupts them, clapping multiple times. “It is non-negotiable mister Mallory, please sit down.”  
  
Viper wants to argue, they really want to, but they don’t want to risk making it worse. They sit down.  
  
“Is there anything else you wish to tell me? No?” Professor Flitwick waits for a moment more, looking at the both of them in turn. He nods. “Alright, then let me warn you that I’m in the obligation to inform your parents about—”  
  
Viper throws their hands in the air again. “Oh, _come on!_ ”  
  


* * *

  
  
“No!” Luce cries out before she can stop herself. It stops professor Sprout mid-sentence, and agitates some plants near the windows. She blushes. “I’m so sorry professor, I didn’t—I just—”  
  
Her stammer shakes the professor out of her surprise. She laughs. “Miss Giglio Nero! I didn’t know you could speak this loud.” Luce blushes harder, and she laughs some more.  
  
She ducks her head. “I’m sorry professor. I just don’t think it’s fair if I’m not being punished too.”  
  
The professor rises her eyebrows. “What do you mean? From what you told me, you were only an innocent victim.”  
  
Luce shakes her head. “It’s not true, I threw hexes at them. And… And…” She urges her brain to come up with something else, but she can think of nothing. She didn’t do anything else. She should have, it was her fault after all. They were defending her. “I found it fun,” she says at last, hoping for the best.  
  
Professor Sprout stops looking amused when she realizes she’s serious. She assesses her silently, and Luce holds her ground. “You won’t accept a simple warning, will you?”  
  
She shakes her head firmly again. “It wouldn’t be fair to them.”  
  
It takes another beat of silence for the professor to chuckle lightly. “I understand miss Giglio Nero. Then you can find your friends this very night at the library with miss Pince for their detention. And all the other nights too if you wish, I suppose.”  
  
Luce beams. They’re not their friends, not really, not yet. But a detention is as good as any other moment to change that. It’s good enough too for her to properly express her gratefulness.  
  
Luce couldn’t wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- john mulaney said "we don't have time to unpack all of that" sdfghfgh  
> \- do you think they could have been expelled for the whole Quidditch incident? I think it's certainly a bit limit, but idk?  
> \- i hope reborn doesn't come off as antagonistic, does he? because i'm not trying to do that at all lol, it's just... how he wants to be written  
> \- i try to keep a balance between all the pov, but some of them just won't shut up you know (usually skull, lmao)? I'm sorry if you don't read as much from your fav(s) as you'd wish  
> (- can you guess where i'm going with this nightly detention? ;) )
> 
> I just want to say, I didn't intend at all to bring out the fact Viper is non-binary that much. Like really, i didn't plan to mention it at all, but it just keeps coming when i'm writing them. I just hope i'm not writing it in an offensive way unknowingly, and _please_ let me know if i do. This won't be a theme in the story tho. I think we'll stop talking about it as soon as it becomes a well-know fact in this universe.
> 
> This was more of an informative/transitional chapter than anything else, but i hope you still liked it. Thank you for your kudos and comments. Any and all review are appreciated. Thank you for reading!
> 
> w_h


	5. The Detention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Good kids show up at their rightfully given detention on time, and really, they had every intention to.
> 
> Featuring lots of hallways, running and screaming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, thank you so much for your patience, here we go again!
> 
> Just know that I changed the layout of the third-floor corridor because I needed these dumb kids to be able to be their true dumbasses selves lol.
> 
> Enjoy!

Lal's stomach grumbles and tightens painfully, loud in the empty room. She curls up tighter under her blanket and pretends she didn't hear it.

She's hungry, she is, but she skipped all her afternoon classes and she isn't about to show up now just for dinner.

Whether the others covered for her or not, it doesn't matter. Lal can deal with all of that after she's done protesting. She is making a point right now, and she's willing to starve for it.

Of course if the others brought back some food for her, it'd be only nice of her to eat it.

The curtain of her bed slides open, and she scrambles out of her blanket. Her heartbeat beats fast in her chest, and she can see in Parkinson's eyes her strangled yelp didn't fall in deaf ears.

" _Stop_ sneaking up on me."

Parkinson rolls her eyes. "I didn't, it's not my fault if you didn't hear me come in. It's my room too." She crosses her arms on her chest and oh, Lal is _so_ not in the mood for the mocking smile at her lips. "Look at you."

Lal lets the strands of hair in front of her face just to spite her. "What do you want?"

"Your friends asked about you. I thought they'd pester me all throughout dinner, and I'd figure I'd better come looking for you."

"We're not friends," Lal says without much conviction. Her uniform is all ruffled, and doesn't look too good right now. She isn't going anywhere in this state. "I'm not hungry."

Parkinson tugs at her blanket. "Oh come on, what are you even upset about? Is it because of the house points we lost because of you idiots? Because that's the most important here."

Lal tugs back, kicks at her hands when she doesn't let go. "Isn't it great? Now you can bother all the Gryffindors breathing near you to make up for it."

"You're welcome." Lal huffs a laugh, but kicks harder at her hand because of her proud little face, and gets back her blanket. She slides underneath, her back to her.

"Don't call me idiot. Don't call them idiots either," she adds as an afterthought.

"Right, I can't call your _not_ friends idiots, what was I thinking?" The mattress dips under Parkinson's weight, and Lal pulls her blanket higher up her face. "Want me to give you something to be upset about?"

Lal jumps out of her bed too late. The birds-nest charm hits her square in her already messy hair, and it's like someone is ruffling them really hard or a whirlwind is blowing through them. She can imagine all too well the end result.

Parkinson laughs in her face like it's the first time, and she isn't getting tired of her little joke. Lal right now certainly is tired of it.

She jumps over her bed, but by the time she's back on her feet Parkinson is somehow already at the door.

Lal runs after her, is halfway out of the room before she slams back the door close. She undoes the charm on her hair, grabs her robe and puts on her shoes, and then takes chase.

Parkinson makes good use of her petite form so there's no way she'll close the distance. She tries her best anyway, following taunts and jeers, the sight of a black robe disappearing around corners.

She gets closer once they're running up the Grand Staircase, but doesn't manage to grab onto Parkinson before she jumps onto another staircase. It's moving in another direction than hers, and she's too late to chance the jump.

"Come back here!"

Parkinson throws her head back and laughs her high-pitched laugh of hers. She tucks a strand of black hair behind her ear. "See you in the Great Hall."

"I'll get back at you for that," Lal says, because she knows when she loses a battle. The distance between them grows, and she takes a look at her surrounding. "Wait, where does it taking me?"

"Tell me all about it later!" Parkinson waves at her, and Lal turns her back on her. Her snickers make her way to her ears, and a smile spreads on her face despite herself.

Lal runs up the stairs the second they stop moving. She ends up nose to nose with a wooden door, open. She doesn't recognize it but she's on the third floor, so if she can just find the Charms corridor from there, it'd be easy to find her way back then.

Or maybe she should take the staircase at her left, and chance the risk of the Grand Staircase bringing her in an another unfamiliar place altogether.

Lal peeks inside, the corridor uncharacteristically dark even for nighttime, like the windows are closed. She breathes dust, and it smells musty.

Wait. Isn't it the forbidden third-floor corridor? The one where a painful death awaits anyone who'd go inside?

Lal slams the door shut. She climbs the stairs, one, two, three, four steps, pauses.

The door was open. Why would it be open if it _is_ the forbidden corridor? Besides, even if she is on the third-floor, there's a lot of corridors on the third-floor.

No, no way, she's being stupid. She got herself enough trouble for the month, and she can really do without another incident. She climbs the stairs, one, two steps, goes down them in a hurry.

Okay, but what is she going to tell Parkinson? That she came across the forbidden corridor and dared only to peek inside?

Not that Parkinson would have even _done_ that. She likes troubles only when she can look at them from afar and laugh at them, but that won't stop her from teasing her.

Lal slips inside. She's not being stupid, she's just trying to find her way back to the Great Hall. The door was open anyway, how is that her fault?

The corridor is empty, with the windows at her right closed as she thought. It's curved with a low arch-shaped ceiling, and she can make out some kind of pillars nearby if she squints.

Lal doesn't move a finger. She waits, for some kind of alarm to go off maybe, or for a teacher to swing the door open and drags her out of here.

Or maybe she can leave on her own, and says she was interrupted.

Or _maybe_ she can stop being the coward she isn't.

Lal squares her shoulders, draws strength from her wand. It's fine, no one is there to see her, and she isn't even going to do anything. She's just going to investigate a little so she can brag about it later.

Just a quick little investigation.

* * *

Skull's favorite thing about Hogwarts so far, apart from the magic of course, is the food. He doesn't know if it's supposed to be normal rations for wizards, but as far as he is concerned it's a whole feast every time.

Food time is sacred and Skull appreciates it accordingly, not really taking part in the conversations and buzzing energy around the table. Usually he'd be halfway through dinner already.

But usually Fon isn't face down against the table beside him.

Skull eats his mashed potatoes with one hand, and runs his other hand up and down Fon's back. He's been doing it all dinner, but it has still to be of any help.

"Come on Fon, we're going to work hard tonight so you should eat something. Your tea is going cold too." Skull already tried the cold tea card before, but he's getting desperate. He didn't manage to cheer him up at all the whole afternoon since they left Snape's office, so he has to at least get him to eat. "Just one bite? For me?"

"What one bite is going to do?" Reborn says from his other side.

"Five bites," Skull corrects smoothly. He glances at Fon's disregarded plate. "Eight bites, just eight big bites." Reborn leans forward to look at Fon's plate too, leans back in silence. " _Ten_ bites. Just ten little bites of nothing at all, okay?"

Fon doesn't move a muscle and Skull doesn't want to see him like that any longer. "Come on, forget all about what Big Nose said. You just changed your uniform's color, who cares?"

"He didn't _just_ do that." Skull stomps on Reborn's foot, or tries to anyway. He only grazes Reborn's shoe, but he's getting quicker at this.

"You did the least worst thing of us all, I'm sure your parents won't be mad at all." Fon turns his head his way, and the look in his eyes tells Skull all he needs to know. "Okay, so they're gonna be mad a little, but what they're gonna do? Taking you away from the school?"

Fon groans, hides back his face. Skull winces.

"You're so good at this."

Skull glares at Reborn. "I don't see _you_ do anything."

"You needed only to ask."

Reborn picks up a carrot from his plate. Skull's breath hitches.

The carrot flies past him, but Fon rises quicker, and it lands on the table in a wet sound. Fon and him look at it like they have never seen a carrot before.

Skull looks at Reborn, who tilts his head innocently.

"What?"

Fon slumps against Skull. "I hate you."

Reborn preens like it was a compliment. "See? He moved, he talked. You're welcome."

A laugh bubbles in Skull's throat, and he fails to keep it there. He shoves a spoonful of mashed potatoes in his mouth to muffle it.

Fon doesn't seem to mind anyway, too busy shoving Reborn behind his back, literally, and being shoved back. Skull lets them. Whatever makes them happy, as long as they don't make him spill his food.

When they leave the table Fon's plate is still half-full, but it also means it's half-empty. Skull grabs both of their arms to stop their little fight, firmly staying in between them.

He takes in the Great Hall as they leave it, looks for a known face among the students in the hallway.

"Should we go directly to the library?" Reborn asks.

"Lal didn't show up for dinner."

"It's fine," Fon says, "she still has time to show up for detention."

"Aww, holding hands? How cute. Don't forget to wash yours after, Sinclair, Lóng."

They turn around to Parkinson, her hands on her hips, and her mocking smirk on her lips. Skull's mood sours. He really doesn't want to do this right now.

"Good evening to you too, Parkinson." Reborn frees his arm, only to intertwines their fingers together.

Fon does the same, holds his hand in his. "Goodbye, Parkinson."

Skull gets dragged along by the both of them, and he's certainly not going to fight it. He giggles, makes a show of rocking their arms back and forth.

"Hey, wait!"

Reborn speeds up, and they fall in step with him without a second thought. They make a mad dash until around the corner, where Skull makes them stop despite how genuinely he's laughing.

Parkinson rounds the corner with flushed cheeks, either anger or embarrassment. Probably both.

"Yes, _very_ funny, not childish at all."

"Thank you," Reborn says. "What do you want?"

Parkinson tucks her hair behind her ears, sticks her nose up at them. Skull admires the composure. "It's Mirch. We said we'd meet at the Great Hall, but she didn't show up. The staircase brought her somewhere on the third-floor."

She glares at them all before shoving past them, and stiffly walks away.

"Lovely talking to you as usual, Parkinson." Parkinson doesn't turn back at Reborn's words, nor at Fon's or his snickers.

"What should we do?"

"Split up? I can go check in the dormitory just to be sure, and you can go look for her at the Grand Staircase."

"Do we have to? Mirch is a big girl."

Skull tugs at Reborn's hand. "She must have got lost. Yes, we have to. We're meeting at the library?"

Fon nods. "Sounds good, I'll see you there."

The Grand Staircase is fairly empty at this time of the day, but still has a drizzle of students coming up and down. Skull tries to look at them all, to make out all the figures that walk past the different openings on the walls.

They make their way up to the third-floor slowly, Reborn taking the lead from there. He gets them back on a not-about-to-move floor, in a hallway he recognizes.

"We're going to charms class?"

"The Charms corridor. When you're lost you try to find the closest familiar place, don't you?"

"Yeah but wouldn't she have made her way back? If she'd find it?"

A beat of silence passes. "Yeah. Give me a minute."

Reborn turns back, climbs down two staircases. He stops in front of a painting he can't see, but from memory it must be The Lady Knight.

Reborn keeps the conversation short, and comes back to his side. "Don't worry about that."

Skull wasn't even going to ask. He doesn't question it either when Reborn takes the lead again, to wherever it is they're going. As much as he likes to lose himself with Reborn when he wanders in the castle, unlike him he can't memorize or differentiate the different corridors to save his life.

Skull questions it when they stop in front of a wooden door, at the dead end of an empty hallway. He pulls on the handle.

"It's closed."

"Obviously. You don't leave a door open behind yourself you found closed in the first place."

"You think Lal's in here?"

"You don't realize where we are at all, do you?"

"Where are we?" Skull says easily.

Reborn leans on the door, arms and ankles crossed. "Oh, you know, just on the third-floor. In front of the forbidden third-floor corridor."

"What?" Skull looks at the door, at Reborn, at the empty corridor where they came from, then back at Reborn again. "Why would you bring us here?"

"Where else do you think she could be? I can't think of anywhere else she might have got lost."

"But… you still don't want us to go in?"

Reborn stares at him, his expression both neutral looking and somehow considering. Skull raises his eyebrows.

"You don't remember the 'painful death' part?"

"Wait, _what_?"

Reborn narrows his eyes, but he actually has no idea what he's talking about. No, wait. Now that he's talking about it, it _does_ ring a bell in his head.

Was it… McGonagall who talked of a corridor of death?

"Don't you never listen when adults are speaking?"

Skull shrugs. "Not if they're not being interesting." Reborn looks about to scold him for a second, but then there's a smirk at the corner of his lips. Skull grins. "Come on, let's go save the princess from the dragon."

"Don't jinx us like that, unless you want me to use you as my human shield."

Reborn unlocks the door with his wand, and locks it back as soon as they walk past it. The door closed on his robe, and he pulls on it gently under the light from Reborn's wand, but has to put all his strength to it in the end.

It rips in two. The momentum throws him against Reborn and they both fall down. A sudden light blinds him, and he keeps his eyes closed lest he sees a dragon.

Reborn pushes him out of him, actually making him roll on the floor a few times. Skull rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry about that."

A good chunk of his robe misses on his left side, along with the bottom of his pocket. Strawberry jam smeared his pants, and the pocket feels all sticky inside.

So much for bringing Lal's food.

The corridor is empty, the pillars near them lit with flames, but only those. The rest of the corridor stays covered in shadows.

The rest of the pillars lit up as soon as they come near, while those behind them fade out. Reborn lets go of his Lumos but points his wand forward, walking half a step in front of him.

The corridor splits on both sides at the end of it.

Skull leans on Reborn, as close to his ear he can without alerting him. "Boo."

Reborn whirls around, digs the tip of his wand in the hollow of his throat. " _Listen_." He raises his hands up in the air, snickering, not repentant at all. Reborn clicks his tongue. "Let's just choose a side."

"Lal?" Skull calls out, turned to right corridor.

His voice reverberates, its echo losing itself in the darkness beyond. The same happens when he tries with the left corridor.

"Really?" Reborn deadpans. "We're doing it like that?"

Skull shrugs. "The faster we find Lal, the faster we're out of the death corridor. Right?"

"Right," Reborn says, but he doesn't sound convinced.

They take right, then right again, and another right. Skull almost expects to end up where they began, but he wouldn't even know it if they did. All the corridors look the same, silent and dusty and never lit enough.

"Lal?" Skull _wishes_ they'd end up where they began so they could leave the place, after yet another unsuccessful right. Did the dragon eat her? "Lal?"

Reborn slaps a hand on his mouth. Skull holds his breath, all of his senses in alert. Reborn nods his head, and they go back slowly on their steps to hide around the corner.

Skull pulls out his wand. "What is it?"

Reborn doesn't answer. He doesn't need too, once Skull catches on the faint echo before it disappears. It disappears quick, so the person who made it is far, but close enough they heard it anyway.

Assuming it _is_ a person to begin with.

Reborn leans forward, looks at their right. Skull leans beside him to look at their left because it's hard to say from where the echo came from.

There's no one in the corridors.

They hear the echo again, and again, and it sounds like whatever is causing it comes closer. Skull liked it better when he thought they were the only ones there.

Reborn pushes against him, hard and insistent. Skull pushes back, tries to get them past the corner and moving again. Reborn's feet stay rooted on the spot.

The flames on the pillars die down, and the dark takes over completely. Skull startles, slaps a hand against his mouth to keep quiet.

"Lumos." Reborn puts his wand in between their faces, and the white light shines ominous shadows on his face. "Let's go back."

"What if it's Lal?"

"What if it's not? Listen, if it's her, she can just keep running after us."

Now that's not an idea Skull likes at all. But if it's really not Lal, and they wait here until it finds them…

The echo sounds more clear now, more like an actual noise. Like a voice and… footsteps? Oh no.

The person—please, please don't let it be a _thing—_ is definitely coming for them.

Skull swallows. He nods. Reborn nods back, and turns off his wand.

They take off running.

* * *

The mashed potatoes are hot in his mouth, almost burning his tongue. Colonnello licks his lips for every last drop of gravy, sips his pumpkin juice to ease down the not enough chewed pieces of pork sausages.

He buries peas and carrots into the mashed potatoes, careful to leave the cabbage aside on his plate. He sips his pumpkin juice to dilute the taste, and rewards himself with a generous spoonful of more pork sausages than mashed potatoes.

His eyes flick to his jam doughnut where his arm act as a barrier around it from the rest of the table, but he needs to finish his second serving first. And then maybe he'll have a third serving before he can move on to the dessert.

His mom's failed attempts at cooking taste more comforting, but Hogwarts' food tastes almost as better as his granny.

Colonnello pauses, his glass against his lips. Besides him Neville stopped fidgeting, and maybe this time is the one.

He puts his glass down, pretends to eat another spoonful. At the corner of his eyes Neville straightens his back, clears his throat.

"How—how did it go then, Colonnello?" Neville glances at him, and he makes a face. He chuckles. "Yeah, professor McGonagall is a bit scary, isn't she?"

"She's a _lot_ scary," Colonnello says, before resuming eating.

Neville does the same, takes a more generous spoonful of his plate with more gusto than he did all dinner. He kicks his leg again, but not with the nervous energy from before.

"What did she say about you making it in the team?"

"Nothing." Colonnello drops his peas and carrots filled spoonful and take a pork sausages one instead. His day is bad enough as it is.

"At least it isn't a no, right?"

Colonnello turns skeptics eyes on him, and he shrugs. He rolls his eyes and shoves him playfully, at which Neville smiles.

There's a lull in the conversation after that, but just as Colonnello thinks it's the end of it Neville speaks again.

"What about Mirch? Do you know if she…"

The end of the sentence never comes out. Neville hunches over his plate, a decidedly red tint on his cheeks. He hunches lower and blushes deeper the longer he looks at him.

Colonnello grins widely. "Sorry, I didn't catch that. What was that about Mirch? What about Mirch? Is there something you want to know about Mirch?" He speaks the next words right against his ear. "Mirch, Mirch, Mirch, Mirch—"

Neville startles, pushes his face away with both hands. "Stop it! It's not like that!" His face is so red, his voice a hushed plea, Colonnello can't help but laugh harder.

"It's like what then?"

"I—she—she saved me when I lost control of my broomstick. It was really impressive. I just—I think she—I just wanted to know if she made it in the Slytherin Quidditch team!"

Colonnello makes himself stop laughing for a moment. He nods like he was won over by a particularly good argument, even if Neville isn't looking at him anymore.

He pats his back. "I know, I know." He leans in again, and Neville side-eyes him suspiciously. "She's really pretty, isn't she?"

Neville chokes on his food, however slow he was chewing it, and Colonnello offers him his glass snickering. He pats his back until he's all good again.

His eyes catch on Skull's purple hair at the Slytherin table, Reborn and Fon at either side of him. Parkinson made her appearance at some point a couple of seats away, but still no signs of Lal near either group.

He winces in sympathy. Fon isn't face down on the table anymore, but he doesn't look much better either. Colonnello doesn't even want to imagine how their meeting with professor Snape went.

"Hey, Colonnello! You speaking again?" Seamus smirks at him across the table, down a few seats.

"Not to you," he shots back.

"Come on," Dean says next to Seamus, "tell us what the professor said."

Colonnello pointedly looks the other way when Ron calls out to him.

"Well mate, aren't you gonna tell us? Tell _me_? I got a detention of my own you know."

"Not to the library."

Ron shrugs, and there is glee on his face. "I'm not the one who destroyed it."

"I didn't—" Laughter erupts around them, cut him off.

" _Why_ did you do that?" Harry asks, a barely contained laugh in his voice.

"I _didn't_ —" They laugh harder, and Colonnello throws his hands up in the air. He lets them laugh, and doesn't say another word for the rest of dinner.

He leaves the table with a full stomach, walks out of the Great Hall without looking back at the taunts and jeers.

He strides the hallway at a slow pace, a hand on his stomach. He stops at a crossroad, looks left to the library, right to the bathroom, and hasn't the time to choose.

Two arms drop around his shoulders, drag him forward. His body jostles, along with his stomach.

"Well, well, well, isn't it our dear Nellykins?" Fred squeezes him into his side.

"I believe it is brother, lucky us." Georges ruffles his hair, presses on his scalp.

"Fred, Georges!" Colonnello uses his elbows, wiggles to slip away. "Let go!"

"How rude Nellykins. _I'm_ Fred."

"And _I'm_ Georges."

Colonnello peers up at the both of them, back and forth, back and forth, and rolls his eyes.

"No you're not. _You're_ Fred—" he jabs him with his left elbow "—and _you're_ Georges." He jabs him with his right elbow, and Georges ruffles his hair again. "What do you want?"

Fred smiles. "Us? Nothing much. We're just checking on our first year Gryffindors."

"To give them our compliments for a hard gained fame—"

"To let them know how proud we are of their ingenuity, boldness, stealth."

"I'm going to throw up on you." Colonnello has his arms raised to brace himself, but they still manage to rock him left and right whenever they speak. "And we got caught."

Colonnello almost trips on his own feet at their abrupt stop.

"Oh, no," Georges says in the most flat tone ever. "They were _caught_ , Fred."

"I heard Georges." Fred looks at him sadly, not looking sad at all, pinches his cheek. "Poor Nellykins. If _only_ you had someone more…"

Georges pinches his other cheek. "Experienced?"

"Less likely to be caught?"

"Who knows how to use all the rules' loopholes in their favor?"

"Who can be more in the finesse of things without no less fun?"

"… on your side?"

They look down at him, their head tilted and a frown between their brows like they're thinking. Colonnello takes the opportunity to free himself, drops his hands from his bruised cheeks and walks past them.

Fred pulls him back by the collar of his robe. He puts his hands on his shoulder and shakes him.

"Guys come on, I need to go!"

"Nellykins, you lucky boy, I know just the person for you," Fred says, not listening. "Are you thinking the same as I, Georges?"

Georges slams his fist in his palm. He grins. "I think I do, Fred." He takes a white business card out of his pocket, slips it in Colonnello's pocket. "Here you go, Nellykins. For you to use to your heart's content."

Colonnello will get rid of it as soon as he can.

"Thanks," he deadpans. "Can I go now?"

Fred shakes him again, and he considers kicking out. "Of course, of course. We wouldn't want you yo be late now, would we?"

He pushes him into Georges' arms, who spins him around. "Of course not brother, up you go Nellykins."

One last shove in his back almost makes him fall for good, and while he tries not to actually fall down they muss his hair again.

His stomach jolts, and he takes a moment his hands on his knees to calm it down. When he turns around there's no more Fred or Georges for him to yell at or throw up on.

Colonnello takes the opposite direction from theirs at an upset and hurried pace, and immediately slows it down for something softer. He turns back mid-step, back to the crossroad then back on track to the library from there.

He turns left on reflex alone, and pauses a few steps away. Students walk past him without so mush as a glance, the paintings on the walls blur with all the other ones he's seen so far, not to mention the armored soldiers all looking similar.

Where the hell is he?

"Colonnello?"

Colonnello whips around. "Fon!"

"What are you doing here?"

"Fred and Georges tricked me."

Fon raises an eyebrow. "What for?"

Colonnello throws up his hands in the air in a grand, dramatic gesture. "Nevermind that, do you know where we are? Are you going to the library too?"

"Yeah, this way."

"Great!" Colonnello falls in steps with him, puts his hands in his pockets. He crushes the business card in his fist. "Where do you come from?"

"Slytherin dormitory. I wanted to check on Lal."

"How is she?"

"I don't know, she wasn't there."

Colonnello frowns. "But she wasn't at dinner either."

"I don't know," Fon says again, "maybe she's already at the library."

He takes a left, Colonnello hot on his heels. The hallways become empty, less decorated, and more dusty as they go.

"You're sure it's this way?"

"It's one of the shortcuts Reborn found, don't worry."

"Like a secret passage?"

Colonnello's mood lifts, and he's more careful of their surroundings after that. They don't do anything more exciting than climbing some secluded stairs though, but he keeps his mouth shut even if he still doesn't recognize where they are.

They pause after their next turn. Fon blinks at the sight, looks back, looks in front, and blinks again.

Colonnello takes the lead, and the closer they get the clearer the Grand Staircase become. They stop at the edge of the hallway, with no stairs attached to it for now.

"Strange," Fon says.

"Yeah, I didn't remember the library looking like that." Fon doesn't look amused by his joke, but he grins at him anyway. "What? You should just have said we were lost."

"We _weren't_. Not at first," he begrudgingly admits.

"I believe you." Fon makes a move like he wants to throw him over the edge, and he grins wider. A moving staircase catches his eye, and he looks down. "Wait, we're on the third floor."

"So?"

Colonnello looks at the hallway, much more familiar now. "I think I know where to go from there."

"Really?"

"Yeah, come on." He gestures for him to follow. "This way."

Colonnello leads the way with sure steps, not thinking twice about taking a left or right. The hallways empty again, but not many people would go at the library at this hour.

Colonnello doesn't lose his confidence right up to the wooden door that block their way.

Fon doesn't miss his chance. "Strange. I didn't remember the library looking like that."

"Very funny." Fon's shoulders shake with a silent laughter, a toothy grin on his face. Colonnello ignores him. "We're still lost you know. What now?"

He tugs at the handle just to quell the urge inside of him. It's locked. He turns around to go back, but a hand on his arm stops him.

"Look." Fon grazes at a piece of cloth stuck in the doorway. "And is that jam?" Colonnello squints at the sticky thingy coating the door, red like strawberries. He nudges the crumbs scattered on the floor. Doughnuts? "I think it's Reborn and Skull."

"What?" Colonnello looks back and forth between the crumbs and the jam. "No it's not?"

"What?" There's confusion on Fon's face, and a beat of silence passes between them. Comprehension strikes them at the same time.

"Oh." Colonnello feels hot on the cheeks. "Nothing."

A smile tugs at Fon's lips. "Why would you—"

"Nothing," he says louder. He hurries to open the door with his wand. "Here, it's open, let's go."

"Okay, but _why_ would you—"

Colonnello slaps his hand on his mouth, and then the other. He tries to smother both his face and laugh under them while Fon tries to get away.

They push each other past the door caught in their struggles. It closes behind them, and plunges them in a pitch black dark.

Colonnello can't hear anything but the silence. Flames lit on the pillars near them, and somehow the growing darkness down the hallway turns it more worrying.

They huddle closer, attached to each other's robe.

"So many hallways," Fon sighs.

"Are you sure they're here?"

"Someone is in any case." Colonnello follows his gaze to the piece of cloth on the floor, which is definitely part of some student's robe.

They stare at each other.

"We should go find a teacher."

"Are you scared?" Colonnello asks.

"I just don't want you to blame me when you won't be able to sleep tonight."

Colonnello snorts. "As if." He shakes himself, jumps in place. There's a matching, excited grin on Fon's face. "Okay, let's do this."

Fon takes out his wand and takes the lead, Colonnello just behind him. "Should we split up?"

Colonnello holds tighter on his robe. "No way."

They turn right together.

Flames lit up the pillars as they come near them, but Fon keeps his Lumos at the tip of his wand anyway. The flames throw moving shadow on the walls he tries to not be distracted by.

They lose the trail of crumbs, and Colonnello immediately reaches in his pocket to keep going the trail of jam doughnuts.

Fon stops, and Colonnello tenses. They're in the middle of the hallway, and he turns to stand back-to-back with him.

"What?"

"Do you hear that?"

Colonnello needs no time at all to hear it. "Footsteps."

"They're running."

"From what?"

They turn around to face each other. "Maybe it's a who."

"Maybe it's really a what."

"I don't think they're coming our way." Fon tilts his head, marks a pause. It's hard to tell with the echo, but Colonnello agrees with him. "Let's run after them."

"No." Fon raises an eyebrow, and he firmly shakes his head. "I can't run." Fon raises his other eyebrow. "I'm serious, I ate too much! And then Fred and Georges—"

The flames die down and Colonnello chokes on his words. Fon brings his wand right under his nose and blinds him.

"It's okay, you'll be fine. Just take a deep breath."

"No, I—" Fon puts his hand on his shoulder and takes a big breath. "Fon—"

Fon doesn't even exhale. He grabs him by his hand and takes off running, not listening to his complains.

Fine, whatever. If he's going to throw up, then so be it. It makes as good a trail as anything else.

* * *

Verde glimpses miss Pince sat against a bookshelf, facing the door. Viper slams it almost on his nose, and pulls him back with such force they almost fall down.

Miss Pince bursts out of the door, searches the hallways with unhappy, hawk like eyes. Her gaze glosses right over them, and she goes back inside but not without one last look back.

Viper releases his arm, and he shakes their bruising grip absentmindedly.

"How does your invisibility work? Does it remove you from everyone's eyes, or stop them to see you? How big an area can it cover? How many people?" He waves at a group of students passing by, taken in their discussion. "What if you were to draw attention on you?"

Viper spins him by his raised arm to face them before he can call out to them.

"They weren't there."

"Are we still invisible?" The students don't seem to have notice them.

Viper shakes him. "Are you listening? They weren't there."

"Sorry. Who are you talking about?"

"The others! Reborn, everyone. Did you see? They were no one waiting with miss Pince."

"Maybe we're first."

They shake their head. "We're _on time_ , and Reborn is never late at anything."

"Maybe miss Pince already put them to work."

"I don't think they'll come."

The door opens behind Verde again, and Viper tenses briefly. The student walks past them like they're not there.

"How long can you keep us invisible?"

Viper drags him away back the way they came, turns at the corner. The student coming their way startles badly when they make them visible right as they're walking past each other, and he's sure to have heard Viper's amused noise.

They stop after their second turn, turn on their heels to face him, arms crossed on their chest.

" _Listen_ , I'm serious. Are you listening?"

Verde straightens his back, smooths his robe. "Yes, I'm listening, sorry. What's wrong?"

"They're ditching."

"Or they're just late."

" _All_ of them?"

"Maybe some of them arrived as we talk."

"Reborn doesn't do late. And Fon doesn't look like the late type either."

"I don't know about that." Verde raises his eyebrow. "If you remember correctly, we all were late the first day."

"Can you believe they're leaving all the work to us like that? Let's go find them."

Viper spins on their feet, leaves an open-mouthed Verde in their wake. They spin back and spread their arms, theirs palms raised upwards.

Verde shrugs. "I don't get it. We're going to find them and then what? Bring them back here, so we can all do the detention together?"

"Sure," Viper says, a beat too late.

Verde frowns. "I don't know about that. Ditching punishment will only get us more punishment. And this punishment is already really time-consuming. There's plenty of other things I'd rather be doing, like—"

"Verde. Verde, listen—" Viper closes the distance between them, stops closer than before. "Listen," they start again in an even voice, their forefinger pushing against his chest "we're _not_ going back in there and clean the mess just the two of us."

"Do you just want to ditch too?"

"I threw _one_ book!"

"But this is stupid." Verde lowers their hand away from him. "This is just going to make it worse. What about your parents?"

"What?" Viper takes a step back. "What… about them?"

"Aren't they going to be even more upset if we get caught?"

"What do you care?"

"Don't _you_ care?"

An older student gives them a look while walking past them, cranes his neck their way until the last second. A laugh sounds further down the hallway, and running footsteps moving away in his back.

Viper makes a noise between a huff and laugh, slumps their shoulders.

" _You're_ stupid." Verde blinks at them. "If you want to go store some books, fine, but you're on your own. I'm going."

They spin around one more time, and don't look back this time. Verde watches them disappear around the corner, not having moved of his spot.

"That's not what I said," he sighs.

If they're really going to do this, there's no point to the both of them looking together. They should have agreed on a way to warn each other from afar if the others end up showing at the library. But there's no point of Verde waiting there now they didn't.

He pekks around the corner and gives it a good ten seconds, but no one walks past the hallway. No one shows up wherever way he looks.

Verde sighs, and goes after Viper. They smirk when he falls in step with them, and he jabs his elbow in their side.

Viper presses themself against the wall before every turn, peeks their head around the corner, their arm blocking his way. They duck their head when they walk past other students, look above their shoulder now and then.

Verde keeps his mouth shut, happy to let them do what they want.

"Where do you know Reborn from?"

"I don't know him."

They come across the Great Hall again, and Verde splits from them for a brief moment. At first glance the others don't seem to be there, except from Luce still eating at the Hufflepuff table.

Viper calls out to him before he can decide if she needs a reminder of their detention.

It's fine, she has still time to make it without being late, and she looked content with her dinner. Verde would have felt bad to disturb her.

"How do you know where to go?"

"I just know."

"Whose trail are you following? Reborn's? How? Are you linked magically with him or something?"

"Ugh, no way." They crane their neck to look at him so he can see their wince. He huffs a laugh. "And it's not magic."

"What else can you do?"

Verde hears the smile in their voice and notices the decidedly proud skip of their steps. "Other cool things."

They make their way to the Grand Staircase up to the third floor, then back in the hallways again. They take a turn and Verde slows down his steps.

There's only four armored soldiers down this hallway, two hung paintings he has never seen, and one tapestry on the right wall that's new to him too.

He fishes his notebook out of his pocket and draws all of it down with notes on the sides. He keeps his steps slow, his eyes flicking here and there, noticing defining features for his pen to draw while they move along.

Verde immediately notices the wooden door down the hallway and makes the connection. Viper too, if the way they slow down is anything to go by.

They stare up at the door in silence.

"You're sure they're in there?"

"I'm sure. Reborn is in there at the very least," they add after a pause.

Verde opens the door the slightest bit, closes it. " _Someone_ is in there."

"Yeah, Reborn," Viper says again.

"And Skull is always with him."

"And Fon is always with Skull."

"And Lal wasn't at dinner."

Viper misses a beat. "She wasn't?"

"I didn't see her."

"Then…" They trail off. They open the door a little, look back down the hallway, look at Verde. "We're just going to look for our lost classmates."

"Yes," Verde says easily, "we can't just leave them there. Someone has to look for them."

"Right?" They open the door wider. Verde walks around them to peek inside. "And now _we're_ here…"

"Yeah. Besides, it's not even like we can get lost."

"We can't?" Verde shows his notebook in evidence, a smirk on his lips. Viper grins. "Good one." They pull on the door again, in a much more confident gesture.

They slip inside, and the complete darkness and silence that engulf them make them rethink things. Viper's Lumos doesn't reach far, and he can't say if it's the spell or the place.

"Someone has to look for them," they whisper.

"Yes, especially if there's really…"

"What do you think is in there?"

"What do _you_ think is in there?" Verde shots back, in a not so hushed tone. "I was thinking some powerful magical artifacts, or dangerous, or really old. Or secret, hidden rooms."

"Or books," Viper offers in a not so whispery tone anymore. "Really old books about powerful spells or history, you know?"

"Yes, books." Thousands and one questions form already in his head because no, as a matter of fact, he didn't know there is some hidden magical history to discover yet.

He flips the pages of his notebook to note that down so he doesn't forget to look more on the subject. Light shines down on them, from the nearby pillars.

They let their bodies relax but don't step away from each other.

"Do you think there are traps or something?"

Verde scans the floor and the walls as far as he can see, but notices nothing suspicious. If there are traps and the others were there—and he's pretty sure they were—surely they would be some traces left.

"I don't think so."

"Good. Don't forget to write down the way, alright?"

They stick to the right side, Viper in the front. The hallways are all bare from the floor to the ceiling, which is odd. Viper's hand slides alongside the wall, but if there is anything to pick up on it flies past them.

Some kind of security spells are maybe at play. Or maybe these empty hallways are supposed to discouraged people to investigate deeper.

The tension in their shoulders disappear once they get used to the low visibility and silence. After another unsuccessful turn, and the need to backtrack again, Verde frowns.

"What is he doing?"

Viper scoffs. "How should I know?"

Verde lifts his notebook closer to the flames as they walk past them, takes in the map he drew so far. He'd say this part of the castle was purposefully built to be a maze, but the whole castle is the same as far as he is concerned.

No wonder the others got lost. They probably—

He bumps against Viper's back, his notebook almost slipping out of his hands. They shush him even when he didn't make any noise.

"What is it?"

"He's coming this way."

Verde steadies his glasses and peeks above their shoulder to the crossroad in front of them. He picks on the approaching footsteps, but can't say from where they are coming.

"It's not just Reborn."

Viper shrugs. "Skull and Fon."

"And Lal, but—" he gives it another moment to listen, "—at least one more people too I think."

The flames die on them at the same time someone rounds the corner opposite them, the Lumos of their wand barely visible. The flames lit and extinguish in quick flashes as they're running past them.

Viper draws his attention to the hallway at their right, where the same thing is happening. It doesn't seem like either of them is running away from anything threatening.

But at the speed they're all running…

Viper leans against the wall, their back straight. They beckon him to do the same.

"Don't move, and don't make any noise."

Verde doesn't fail to hear the mischief in their voice. He bites on his growing smile. "I won't."

This is going to be fun.

* * *

It can only be Lal running after them. Where else would she be? Who else could that be?

It's a student in any case, and more importantly it's a human being at the very least, and not some monster here to dispose of them because they trespassed the place.

But on the off chance it _is_ _n't_ …

They keep a steady rhythm, towards the door hopefully but probably not. Reborn made the mistake to let Skull takes the lead, and he made all the wrong turns. He lets him in front because there's no point now, but they can't keep running in circle forever.

"My eyes hurt," Skull complains, like they're doing his homework late at night because he forgot again.

The quickly flashing flames aren't kind on his eyes either but Reborn knows to have his priorities in the right order.

He glances back and doesn't see anything, but doesn't see any glow of the flames either. Lal must be at least one hallway behind.

It'd give them enough time to hide and see if it's really her, and if not they could start running again with a still safe enough distance between them.

When he looks back Skull slowed down to his level, which he doesn't question. They'll hide around the next corner and hope for the best.

Someone runs into him full force, sends him flying on the floor. The back of his head hits the hard rock, and it pulses with pain along with his forehead from where he was head-butted. Orange hued black spots dance in front of his eyes thanks to the now fully lit pillars, and it's not helping.

Reborn pats himself in the back for not having let go of his wand. He helps himself up with the wall, vaguely points his wands at the wrestling, grunting bodies on the floor. There's a fourth person sat against the wall in the corridor adjacent to his, but they look passive for now.

The rolling pile of bodies knocks his feet, and he goes down again. He'd kick at them while crawling away but one of the bodies is Skull, so he doesn't.

"Guys—"

Reborn has one hand and a knee out of the floor. There's a yelp, then a body _lands_ on him, knocking him flat on the floor. _Again_.

"Guys, it's us!" Colonnello bursts out laughing, like there's anything funny about the situation, and gets tuned out for that.

Skull has the great idea to roll off of him. "Oh my god Reborn, are you okay?"

Reborn tunes him out too to glare at the last unidentified person. It's Fon.

Same-size-as-him and harmless-looking Fon, who can apparently throw people in the air.

"Fon?" Skull's breath hitches, and he rushes to his side, visibly stopping himself from touching him. "Oh my god Fon, it was you! I'm so sorry I didn't know, are you okay?"

Fon looks entirely unbothered, despite the nice bruise that's sure to form along his jaw. He looks even content, to not say happy.

"I didn't know either, I'm sorry too." He shrugs. "Don't worry, we both gave as good as we got."

Skull laughs, holding his side. "Yeah, you're really strong."

"You're all forgiven Skull, don't worry about a thing."

Skull turns around, a guilty look on his face. "I'm really, really, really sorry Reborn, please forgive me?" He comes near, and Reborn slaps his hand away because he doesn't need his help to make himself presentable again. "Okay, but it's not my fault, didn't you see?" Skull's lips twitches, in a badly contained laugh. "It's Fon, he _threw_ me."

"Did he? I didn't notice."

Colonnello's laugh in the background gets louder, and Skull immediately bursts out laughing too. Fon picks up his wand like nothing, meets his eye unblinking and unrepentant.

A hand grabs his shoulder. A someone appears in front of him, _looms_ over him, their arms spread out and their cape fluttering in the air. They scream.

Reborn doesn't, _he does not_ , and instead bites his lip. His heart does lodge itself in his throat, beats in his ears.

The others scream, short-lived but high-pitched, and right in his ears for one of them. His arm is squeezed into someone's side, nails biting into it, and here's Lal standing next to him.

Viper lands on the floor, a delighted cackle escaping their mouth. Next to them Verde laughs too, something with a lot more good humor, in the face of a stricken Fon and Colonnello.

Lal comes back to her senses first. "What the _hell_ Viper?"

Skull snorts, chuckles, then laughs, something entirely nervous that quickly devolves into hysterics. It spreads to Colonnello, Verde and Fon even quicker.

"Got you," Viper says to him. "You screamed."

"I didn't."

"You did. That'll teach you to try to ditch on us."

"What?" Off to the side Skull and the others scream at each other with the most dumb faces in some sort of inventive imitation, moving in circle like they're in the middle of a ritual. "We weren't trying to ditch detention."

Viper crosses their arms, in a clear sign they don't believe him.

"Wait, you were going to ditch detention?" Lal lets go of his arm, and steps back from the both of them in a betrayed fashion.

"I _just_ said—"

"No, wait, who was I running after?"

" _Chasing_ you mean."

"So that was _you_?" She puts her hands on her hips. "Why were you running away?"

"Because you were chasing us. What are you even doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?"

Reborn blinks, and even feels like laughing, because there's only so much amount of thinking he can do for all of them in a row.

"We were looking for you," Skull says.

"And we were looking for them," Fon adds.

"And we were looking for all of you," Verde finishes.

Lal looks taken aback at that. She looks at them all, at Skull and him back and forth, and visibly softens. "Thanks." Her shoulders slump in obvious relief, eagerness clear on her face. "Okay, let's get out of here now we all found each other."

Her words are met with silence. They share looks—the one between Viper and Verde catches his eye—, purposefully not looking at Lal. The silence grows heavy with embarrassment.

No one steps up, no one takes the lead.

Reborn laughs then. These people are not to be left unsupervised, and he's going to make it the most well guarded secret in the world.

This is going to be _such_ a fun year.

Skull jabs him in the side because it's the wrong time for that, but he couldn't care less.

"Shhh, Reborn shut up. Do anyone else hears that?"

They quiet down at Colonnello's demand and pay attention to their surrounding. Reborn doesn't pick up on anything, but Skull does.

"Someone's coming."

Lal scoffs. "Is this _not_ the forbidden corridor?"

"Maybe it's another student?" Fon offers. "I mean, if _we're_ here…"

"Or maybe it's a teacher came looking for us," Colonnello says. "What time is it?"

Skull perks up. "Isn't that good? They'll know the way out."

"Yeah, and then they could lead us straight to the headmaster's office for us to get expelled. Isn't that good?"

Viper's words drops the temperature a few degrees, for some reason. What, didn't they realize what they were getting into?

Verde seems to think the same as him. "This _is_ the forbidden third-floor corridor. You all knew that, didn't you?"

Reborn cuts short their dilemma. "Let's hide."

Viper and Verde exchange another long look. Verde steps forward, but is cut off by Colonnello before he can say anything.

"Okay, where do everyone come from?"

Reborn, Skull and Lal point at the hallway behind them. Fon points at the one on its right, and Viper—after a glance and a shrug to Verde—points at the one on its left.

That leaves only the one in front of him then.

Verde steps forward again. "Wait—"

"No time." Reborn could hear it now, the footsteps in the echo the oncoming person was making. And words? "Let's go."

Verde needs a little ushering but he comes easily enough. Then they're running again, to some hiding place he doesn't believe they'll find.

All they saw since they got here is hallways upon hallways upon hallways, but then luck smiles at them.

"A door!" Colonnello cheers.

It's locked, but Colonnello deals with it and they pour in. Reborn comes in last, has to squeeze and push to fit in. He pointedly uses his elbows while doing it, because the place doesn't appear that small at first glance.

He scrunches up his nose at the foul smell in the air, but has other priorities at the moment. The sounds of the door locking back only half relieves him. If they could open it magically, there's no reason someone else won't.

The others have a recoil movement and he gets shoved against the door, his wand almost slipping from his hand. The others scream, and his wand falls for good, not that he can care.

Not when the screams are filled with sheer fear.

"Reborn!"

Lal tackles him to the ground. They roll to a halt, giant clawed paws spinning in front of his eyes, loud barks drowning the noise of the others scrambling around.

The giant paws link to the giant body of a dog, that's linked to three giant heads. They snarl when not barking and spluttering saliva everywhere, flashing teeth and fangs bigger than Reborn's arm.

This is ridiculous. This would be ridiculous in a delightful way if he wasn't at risk of being eaten, but he is, so it isn't.

The dog's breath smells of raw, rotten meat, and it's going to seep into his clothes. He's bound to find hairs everywhere on them too, but Merlin forbid if he gets saliva on him.

Reborn would have liked a dragon more.

"Reborn, come on!"

Lal drags him up and away, just in time to not be crushed under a paw. That's good, but they're also running deeper into the room when the door was just _right there_ , so that's less good.

One head gives chase, but the room is too small and his body too big, and it can't fit between the space left, let alone turn around.

Lal throws them on the ground, the tail swinging above their heads. It comes back at ground level, and they scramble up to jump over it.

"Are you okay?" Colonnello asks from the opposite corner, next to Verde. The tails closes on them, and they jump over it too.

"I'm fine," Fon says, his voice coming from above.

Lal's breath hitches. Reborn is a little bit jealous.

Fon crawls on the dog's back, steady despite his wild movements, making his way towards the heads not so slowly but very much surely. To do what exactly, Reborn doesn't know.

They jump over the tail, run to Colonnello and Verde. None of them have their wands out, which you'd _thin_ _k_ one wizard or witches among seven would have thought about it.

"We're stuck," Verde greets them with.

The dog shifted to block their access to the door, in a diagonal position, three heads at one end, a tail at the other.

"Where are the others?"

"Viper made themself invisible," Verde says. "They're still somewhere at the front I think."

"And Skull is underneath."

There's not an ounce of surprise that crosses Lal's face, which Skull would be pleased to know, knowing him like he does. The tail swings again, and they duck.

"Guys, now!"

Fon flips his robe on the dog's head, the one first blocking their way. It jerks and struggles, but Fon hangs on.

They make a run for it, squeeze between the now available space, the two other heads distracted just enough they don't make a grab for them.

There's a ripple in the air and Reborn grabs onto Viper. They meet halfway with Skull, coming from the opposite side.

Reborn makes to pick up his wand before they can walk over it. Fon screams, the others too, and he finds himself crushed under all of their weights.

The growls of the dog sounds low and threatening in the silence, and too much like imminent death for Reborn's tastes. He cranes his neck back, his wand finally in his hand again.

The dog lunges for them.

* * *

Luce stuffs spoonful after spoonful in her mouth, successfully not spilling anything with the ease of habit. Her food went lukewarm so it's not that hard, and she isn't really fond of pumpkin juice but better that than choking on her food.

At this point it's not about tasting anything anymore anyway.

"Giglio Nero. Hey, Giglio Nero." Luce looks up at Abbott across from her, both hands taken with her spoon and glass, her mouth full. "Slow down maybe?"

It's said with good humor but she blushes anyway. There's an embarrassing moment of silence the time for her to chew and swallow, but at least her mouth stays clean the whole time.

"Luce is fine."

"Luce. You going somewhere?"

She nods hurriedly, busy gulping the rest of her food.

Luce always sits near the edge of the table, but this time it was supposed to remind her to not dwell on her dinner. In the end she didn't even notice any of the others leaving the Great Hall.

She stands, picks up her jam doughnut in a tissue, and runs off.

"Good luck!" Abbott calls out.

"Thank you!"

Cosmo jumps from her pocket to run beside her. She cheers up, getting rid of her doughnuts in a couple of good, big bites.

She's not going to be too late, is she? It should be fine, it's not as if they'd have the time to finish all the work before she shows up.

So much for doing a good first impression though.

She still speeds up once she reaches the Grand Staircase. She climbs the stairs in pairs, pauses before changing staircases lest she ends up on a moving one.

"Little girl, little girl!" Luce misses a step, but catches herself at the railing on time. "Yes you, the one who just tripped. Come over here."

She climbs down, stops eye to eye with the painting. The man is sat at a table in what seems like a kitchen, a book in his hands. It's not a painting she ever talked with.

"Yes, sir?"

"Reborn has a message for you. He said to meet them at the third-floor forbidden corridor."

" _What_?" Well, that can't be right. Sinclair? Meeting _them_? The _**forbidden th**_ _ **ir**_ _ **d-floor corridor**_? "Are you sure he meant me?"

The man doesn't look at her. "That's what I have been told. Short hair in the front, long braid in the back, wear red on them. Doesn't that fit your description?"

"Not really." She reaches for her ponytail, tied with a red ribbon, but that's rarely been used as her most distinct feature.

There's this one friend of Sinclair though, the one with an actual braid and a red jumper. What was his name again, Fon Lóng?

"Great. Off you go then, I have things to do."

Luce doesn't get shooed off but she might as well have been. She narrows her eyes briefly, evens out her face in a polite expression.

"Yes sir. I hope by the time I come back you'd have moved on to the next line of your book."

She walks away at an even pace because she doesn't want the man to think she's running away, grinning to herself at his splutters.

She doesn't go to the library. On the very unlikely off chance the message was really for her, it'd be rude not to show off. Besides, the forbidden third-floor corridor?

Luce remembers what the headmaster said on the first day. Maybe Sinclair and his friends are in trouble right now and need help.

What's behind the infamous door turns out to be a bit of a let down. There's nothing as far as she can see, except for a silent, bare and dark hallway.

Cosmo rushes past the door and she rushes after him.

"Cosmo, no!" Flames comes to life on top of the nearby pillars, but doesn't light any hidden monster previously unseen. "Cosmo come on, don't eat anything in here."

She scoops him up in her arms, squints at the floor. Is that… jam doughnuts?

No way, the others _really_ are there!

"Cosmo, you can't eat that but look." She takes out a hazelnut out of her pocket. "If you can lead me to the others, I'll give you a treat alright?"

Cosmo sniffs it and down he goes, following the trail of doughnuts. Luce makes sure to leave a trail of hazelnuts behind them, hot on his trail.

They run to no one, see no one, hear no one, even after the first couple of turns. The hallways look unused since a long time too, except for the trail of doughnuts.

But maybe it's not from today, and they're not in there. Maybe Luce isn't supposed to find them, and the message really wasn't for her.

"Sinclair? Lóng? De Mort?" They pause, staring at each other but neither of them hear anything. "Someone, anyone?"

Cosmo speeds up, and she immediately picks up her pace too. They run past another hallway without any sign of anyone else, but then she hears it too.

"Sinclair? It's Luce, I'm alone!"

An echo answers Luce's, sounds like footsteps. She focuses on it but not only she doesn't seem to get closer, it actually sounds like its getting away from her.

They end up on a crossroad, every flames extinct except from the hallway they came from.

"Oh no Cosmo, what now?"

She turns around on herself, trying to pick the right path but should she even bother to?

They ran away from her! They're hiding from her. This is all a mistake and Luce isn't actually wanted here.

She whips around at the familiar sound of Cosmo taking off, and can only follow after him. "Cosmo, wait!"

Cosmo doesn't wait, to Luce's despair. This is going to be so awkward. What is she even going to say to them?

Cosmo backtracks abruptly, and before Luce can even stop herself he's already climb on her leg all the way up to her pocket. A bark like sound startles her, and as she reaches for her wand she realizes it's actual barks she's hearing.

There's a dog behind the door in front of her, one that sounds worryingly loud.

She closes in carefully at first, but then she hears screams too, _human_ screams.

The door is closed but she knows the charm for that. Luce throws it open, her wand in front of her. Her eyes widen.

Oh. A giant three-headed dog.

Oh no.

"Lumen solis!"

The white blinding light of her wand shines even behind her closed eyes. The dog's foul breath washes over her but nothing else, and she peeks her eyes open to see him angrily trying to shake off her spell.

The pile of bodies at her feet comes to live, rolls away from each other and most importantly out of the direct line of sight of the dog.

Mallory pulls on her foot. A head catches her by her robe before she can fall down, and she finds herself swinging in the air.

Luce screams, flailing, her arms outstretched to hold on anything she can. Her fingertips graze with Lóng's, but he was a second too late.

De Mort jumps to the door, leans on one side of the doorway then on its other side, higher, and throws himself at her.

"Lumen solis," Sinclair says.

Luce has still the common sense to close her eyes. The pressure on her robe disappears at the same time De Mort makes impact.

She falls on top of him, but not as hard as she would have thought. They both cough, dust all around them, a shadow covering them. They're _under the dog_ , and Luce's heart misses a beat.

She puts a hand in her robe's pocket and _thanks Merlin_ Cosmo is still in there and alive.

"Skull, Luce, are you okay? Hurry and come out!"

She gets off De Mort and crawls beside him out from under the dog. Thankfully they don't try to crawl past the heads, but the giant paw near them is only a little bit better.

They're the last ones still in the room. Reborn and Colonnello are at the door, keeping the dog at bay with successive use of the Solis spell. They don't wait to be told twice to rush past them.

The three heads chase after them, and there's a terrifying moment where Luce thinks they're about to let loose a giant three-headed dog on the castle.

They push harder against the door, slam it shut and lock it back.

The dog pushes against it anyway, and it looks like it might just escape. The door trembles particularly violently, and they don't wait there to find out.

They run all the way back at full speed without ever slowing down, Cosmo all but too happy to lead them. Colonnello comes out last, shuts the door and hurriedly steps back from it.

There are no teachers or anyone else to greet them, which is good, and no noise come out from the other side of the door, as unlikely as it was, which is even better.

Colonnello turns to them, and slowly but surely a grin spreads on his face. Luce herself feels about to laugh away all the adrenaline of the last minutes any second now.

" _Sure_ , go ahead, laugh," Mallory says, sat against the wall. "We just almost got eaten by a giant dog."

They don't need to be told twice. Laughter spreads among them, builds up off each other, until it turns into something that'd be quite worrying to hear if someone else was there.

Luce leans against the wall for support as it wears off from her, feeling a bit shaky on her legs now. There's some wet suspicious spots on her clothes, and she crinkles her nose in disgust at them.

"So, who's our savior?" Sinclair asks.

"It's Luce," Colonnello and Verde say in a noticeably proud voice that makes her blush a little.

"Hi, I'm Luce di Gligio Nero. And this is Cosmo." She scoops up Cosmo gently in her arms, strokes his head. He tends to eat until he makes himself sick when she lets him, but tonight it'll be well-deserved. "Your true savior."

"Hi Cosmo," De Mort waves, "your mistress really saved us back there."

"So did you. Thank you."

He smiles. "Don't worry about it. I'm Skull by the way."

"Reborn."

"Hello, my name's Fon."

"I'm Lal, thanks for your help."

"Viper."

She waves shyly at them. "Hi, nice to meet you all."

"What were you doing there?" Verde asks.

Luce tries not to look guilty. It's not like she did anything wrong, did she? "I was looking for you. What were you doing there?"

"It's Lal's fault."

"What?" Skull skids closer to Viper and away from Lal, a mischief look in his eyes she's not sure Lal saw. "It's not, it's Parkinson's!"

"It's Fon's fault."

"If you would just have listened to me, we wouldn't have ended up there."

Luce blinks at the argument that breaks out. She didn't mean the question in any accusing way at all, but they all throw the blame around, trying to talk over each other.

She holds back a laugh, happy to watch them from the side. Still, she has something to stay.

She clears her throat. "Guys?" She clears her throat again, louder and longer. "Guys, please?" She catches Sinclair's attention first, and then the rest follows. "Sorry, I just want to say thank you properly. You know, for the library incident? I—"

"The library! The detention!" Mallory stands frozen in horror, their mouth open in a silent scream maybe, or curses.

Colonnello groans. "Are we running again?"

"This is all your fault." Mallory gestures at what she thinks is Sinclair before floating away, but it's vague enough they could have been talking about all of them.

Sinclair rolls his eyes. "Not."

"Not," Lóng says, reaching for a reluctant Colonnello.

They halfheartedly break into a run, even more halfheartedly bickering again. Luce watches them disappear around the corner, not sure of what to do.

They didn't exactly acknowledge her thank you but they couldn't not have heard it, so if anything else she would have successfully done that tonight. But now what?

Cosmo jumps down to push against her leg. She hesitates. "I don't know Cosmo, I can't just—"

"Luce, what are you doing? Come on, we're late."

"Don't you have detention too? Are you hurt, can't you run?"

Luce stares at Colonnello and Verde, half hidden behind the wall, at the look of confusion and worry respectively on their face. They share a look, and she scolds herself mentally for the dumb face she must be making.

"Guys, what are you doing?" De Mort calls out.

Mirch's voice sounds from further away. "Guys, let's go!"

"Heard that?" Colonnello says. He grins. "Come on, or you're going to be left behind."

Luce grins, wide and unrestrained. Her heart grows big and her belly fills with warmth. She speeds past them.

"Last one arrived is a rotten pumpkin!"

"Hey wait up, you cheater!"

Luce bursts out laughing, and falls in steps with a smirking Lal. She glances back, at smiling and amused faces, and grins even bigger at her friends.

There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and almost getting eaten by a giant three-headed dog is one of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, I hope the wait was worth it. I had quite a few things I wanted to say in this a/n but I'm tired and this chapter is long overdue. So, long story short:
> 
> This chapter was so fun to write and I hope it was as much fun to read too.
> 
> I'm going to do the flufftober on [tumblr](https://hopeswriting.tumblr.com/tumblr) for the KHR fandom, and I'm going to take requests too. It's the first post on my tumblr, you can't miss it.
> 
> I _did_ some writing since the last time, and actually posted a new story on the Arcobaleno if you want to go check that out. It's called [Scars like Constellations](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24883792/chapters/60206044), and it's my most serious story so far.
> 
> Thank you for all the kudos and comments. I hope you enjoyed this new chapter. Any and all review are appreciated. Thank you for reading!
> 
> — w_h


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